Coupang hacked by Russians, report says, company denies

Coupang's headquarters in Songpa District, southern Seoul [NEWS1]

Coupang was the target of a major theft of customer data, according to a local media report.

The company said this is impossible and blamed third parties for any possible loss of data.

According to Hankyoreh, information on 460,000 of the company's customers was taken by the hacker group. The report said that the information was stolen by Russians and uploaded to the dark web.

“We found no traces of external attack on the server and no pieces of customer information was leaked,” Coupang said.

Coupang said that the possibility exists in which a seller or multiple sellers from Coupang Marketplace, a cross-border e-commerce offering where sellers and consumers are able to directly buy and sell products, may have leaked their consumer information.

The responsibility for the leaked information falls upon the seller, Kwon Chang-beom, an attorney at In, a law firm representing Coupang.

“As the seller directly manages customer information through consent on providing their information to a third person, the seller is responsible for maintaining privacy if the data is leaked,” Kwon said, citing Article 17 of Personal Information Protection Act.

“Coupang’s server and network is securely protected,” a Coupang spokesperson emphasized. “There was no cyber attack on Coupang network and customer personal information.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]