CJ data leak exposes personal information of 330 female employees

CJ Group headquarters in Seoul's Jung District / Korea Times photo by Shin Sang-sun

A data leak at CJ Group exposed the personal information of 330 female employees, the company said Tuesday, adding that the breach may have been carried out internally rather than by an external hack, raising concerns over corporate data security and workplace privacy.

The conglomerate — whose businesses span retail, food, logistics and entertainment, including CJ Olive Young and Bibigo — acknowledged that the leaked information included employees’ mobile phone numbers, job titles, office contact details and photographs.

The company said such data can be accessed through an intranet network, suggesting the leak must have been initiated by an employee.

The leaked data have appeared at an online channel under messenger platform Telegram to which around 2,800 people have joined.

A CJ official said the company has begun preparing to request for a police investigation.

“We’re seeing this as an internal leak since it involved intranet data. We’re also planning to launch a task force to prevent a follow-up damage by the leak,” the official said.

“We are now investigating an exact cause and leakage pathway of the incident. We take this matter extremely seriously and will do our utmost to prevent any further damage.”