Alarm grows over Coupang data breach that went undetected for 5 months
Published: 30 Nov. 2025, 12:55
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- PAIK JI-HWAN
- [email protected]
![Vehicles are seen at a Coupang logistics center in Seoul on Aug. 6. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/30/93c56a80-4150-4153-9d11-8db61e742e88.jpg)
Vehicles are seen at a Coupang logistics center in Seoul on Aug. 6. [YONHAP]
Anxiety and frustration are mounting following a massive data breach at e-commerce giant Coupang that local observers noted Sunday may have been ongoing for months.
On Saturday, the U.S.-listed company confirmed that personal information belonging to 33.7 million customers — nearly its entire user base — had been compromised.
The breached data includes names, phone numbers, email addresses and delivery addresses. The company said payment information, credit card numbers and login credentials were not affected.
"Unauthorized access to delivery-related personal information for the affected accounts appears to have been made through overseas servers since June 24," the company said.
The company first discovered the breach on Nov. 18 and notified authorities within two days. Coupang initially reported a leak affecting approximately 4,500 customers. Police launched an investigation after receiving a complaint Tuesday to determine how the breach occurred.
As the scope of the breach proves far larger than the 4,500 accounts initially reported and extends back several months earlier than first believed, customers have expressed serious concerns about potential misuse of their compromised information.
Consumers voiced growing frustration after personal data leaked.
Posts on X, formerly Twitter, said, “Coupang sent me a text about a data leak, but the message sounded like ‘it happened’ and did not mention follow-up measures or compensation,” one user wrote. “Criminals can use the leaked information in all kinds of schemes.”
The incident surpasses SK Telecom's data leak in April, affecting 23.2 million users, which resulted in a record fine of 134.8 billion won ($91.9 million).
In addition, the full extent of the damage may increase as the investigation progresses. In a recent data breach case, Lotte Card initially denied on Sept. 4 that financial details had been breached, but retracted the statement two weeks later, admitting sensitive information including credit card numbers was compromised.
BY PAIK JI-HWAN, YONHAP [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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