Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
ICT ministry calls Coupang data leak disclosure ‘unilateral’
A Coupang delivery trukc is parked in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Ministry of Science and ICT pushed back on Thursday against Coupang’s announcement that a former employee suspected of leaking customer data saved information from only about 3,000 accounts, calling it a “unilateral claim.”
In a statement, the ministry said it had strongly protested Coupang unilaterally disclosing matters currently under investigation by the joint public-private probe team to the public.
Earlier in the day, Coupang said in a press release that it had identified the former employee responsible for the leak, adding that the individual confessed and provided a detailed account of how customer data was accessed.
Coupang said the suspect used stolen security keys to access basic information from approximately 33 million customer accounts, but saved data from only about 3,000 of those accounts.
In response, the ministry said the joint investigation team is closely examining the type, scale and circumstances of the data leak, stressing that Coupang’s claims have not been verified.