Coupang Says Former Employee Saved Data From Only 3,000 Customers, No External Leak

(MENAFN- IANS) Seoul, Dec 25 (IANS) E-commerce giant Coupang said on Thursday it has recovered all leaked personal information involving approximately 3,000 customers, adding that no data has been transferred to anyone outside the company.

In a press release, Coupang said it has identified a former employee responsible for the data leak by using forensic evidence, adding that the individual confessed and provided a detailed account of how customer information was accessed, reports Yonhap news agency.

The suspect used stolen security keys to access basic customer information from approximately 33 million accounts, the company said.

However, data from only about 3,000 accounts was actually saved and later deleted by the suspect.

An internal investigation found no evidence that any customer data was shared with or transmitted to third parties, the company said, adding it has also secured all devices used to access and store customer information, including a hard drive.

The accessed information included customers' names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses and other details, according to the company.

Coupang stressed that there was no breach of sensitive information, such as payment information, login credentials or customs clearance numbers.

The announcement by Coupang followed news reports that the presidential office was set to hold an emergency meeting with relevant government officials on the case on the day.

But the government refuted Coupang's announcement as a "unilateral claim," saying the results of a private-government joint team's probe into the data leak have yet to come out.

"(The government) strongly protested Coupang over its unilateral announcement about the matter that is currently under investigation by the joint team," the Ministry of Science and ICT said.

Last month, the government set up a private-public joint team to investigate the data breach at Coupang that affected 33.7 million users.

"The private-public joint team is closely looking into the kinds and extent of the data breach, and how the data leaked," the science ministry said. "What Coupang claimed has not been verified by the team."

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