Korean book publishers face major losses after 1 million ebooks hacked

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Korean book publishers face major losses after 1 million ebooks hacked

Published: 30 May. 2023, 18:01

[SHUTTERSTOCK]

Korean book publishers expressed regret in regards to a recent hacking case that saw one million electronic books leaked.

A hacker infiltrated online bookstore Aladin on May 19 and stole 1 million ebooks. The hacker then demanded 100 Bitcoins — worth 3.5 billion won ($2.6 million) — in return for the ebooks not to be leaked, according to publishing industry sources.

“Around 5,000 electronic books were already leaked into a Telegram open chatroom with 3,200 members, according to the Korea Copyright Protection Agency on Friday,” the Korean Publishers Association (KPA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Those ebooks will wander around like ghosts for several decades and practically lose all of their value as goods,” the KPA said. “Because [ebooks] can be infinitely duplicated [...] their leakage is an entirely different issue from a stolen paper book.”

A further leak of the stolen ebooks will be catastrophic to publishers and cause huge losses in the ebook distribution industry in general, added the publisher organization.

“The incident literally rattles the foundation of the industry and is unpredictable in its consequences and damages,” the KPA lamented.

The publishers criticized Aladin for failing to provide a clear explanation or announce follow-up security measures to prevent further hacks.

Aladin reported the hack to the police’s cyber investigation bureau and the copyright agency after the incident.

The bookstore platform said it “feels a strong obligation to prevent secondary damage and is amassing all efforts to that end” in a statement on its website on May 20.

The association on Thursday sent letters to security heads of ebook distribution platforms — Kyobo, Yes24, Aladin, Ridi, Millie, Kakao Page and Bookcube — and called on them to review their networks.

“Downloading or redistributing leaked files is another criminal activity that adds to the chaos in the publishing ecosystem,” the publishers’ association said.

Anyone who comes across the files should report them to the authorities right away and not download them, since unauthorized distributors may attempt to spread a virus through the files, warned the association.

BY LEE JI-YOUNG [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]