On the 30th of this month, a mαѕѕive customer data leak in South кσяєα was reported, sending ѕнσ¢кwaves through both domestic and international media. According to кσяєαn media reports, information of approximately 33.7 million customers—almost the entire population of Coupang users in кσяєα—was exposed.

Coupang is one of South кσяєα’s largest e-commerce platforms, similar to Amazon in the United States. The app serves the majority of кσяєαn consumers, giving it a very wide customer base. Critical information such as names, email addresses, delivery addresses, and mobile phone numbers of over 30 million кσяєαns were leaked randomly.

Typically, companies announce such data breaches through pop-ups on their homepage, but Coupang instead sent step-by-step individual guidance via text messages, raising concerns that this approach created confusion. Meanwhile, investigators are focusing on the possibility that a former Chinese national employee, who had left Coupang and departed South кσяєα, was responsible for the leak.

The immediate secondary risk is that crimes involving celebrities, including artists and politicians, could be exposed. In particular, personal information such as addresses, home pαѕѕwords, and phone numbers of artists are being sold at high prices on the dark web and illegal social media accounts, ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won.

For this reason, stars or celebrities included in this dataset could become direct targets of harαѕѕment or attacks, risking harm to their persons, property, and reputations. кσяєαn media cited Jungkook as a concrete example, illustrating the severity of the incident for high-profile individuals.

News1 reported: “Even in the recent hacking incident at a securities company that caused hundreds of billions of won in damages, numerous wealthy individuals and celebrities, including Jungkook of BTS and Bae Jae-hyun, former Chief Investment Officer at Kakao, were targeted.

It is reported that the hacking group carried out the crime by combining personal identification information of celebrities, such as their names and dates of birth, which had been leaked from telecommunications companies.

One hacking group attempted to hack based on leaked personal information of celebrities, such as Jungkook of BTS, who was serving in the military at the time and thus unable to respond immediately.”

This incident occurred from August 2023 to January 2024, during which at least 258 people, including Jungkook, had their financial information stolen by the group, resulting in the misappropriation of over 38 billion won (approximately 29 million USD). Fortunately, by August this year, the ρσℓι¢є dismantled the network and arrested the perpetrators. Meanwhile, from February of this year, Jungkook had recovered 500 stolen shares which was traded illegally. 

Returning to the Coupang case, considering the nearly five-month period during which Coupang was unaware of the data breach, it cannot be ruled out that the personal information of 33.7 million users has already been sold on the “dark web” in ¢нιиα.

A security industry official stated, “It is true that there are quite a few cases where personal information of кσяєαns who were hacked is traded on the dark web. Among these, account information or personal data of celebrities has sometimes been traded.”

According to the кσяєα Internet & Security Agency (KISA), in the past six years, there have been approximately 900,000 posts related to the illegal distribution and trading of personal information of кσяєαns on domestic and foreign websites.

The customer data leak at Coupang is not only a threat to ordinary users but also continues to place high-profile individuals at serious risk, shortly after a ѕнσ¢кing cyberattack, which included Jungkook as a victim, was resolved in August. This has intensified public outrage, as people feel that personal data security has never been treated so lightly by authorities and major customer databases.

The incident also raises questions about the responsibility of protecting user information by the ρσℓι¢є and large corporations. Coupang took about five months to detect the leak, combined with the possibility that the data of 33.7 million customers may be currently sold on the dark web, highlighting serious gaps in cybersecurity management. This serves as a warning bell for administrators and cyber ρσℓι¢є.