Police raid Coupang over widening personal data leak probe

Police opened a compulsory investigation into Coupang on Dec. 9 after the personal information of 33.7 million users was leaked.

The Cyber Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it carried out a search and seizure the same day at Coupang’s headquarters in Seoul’s Songpa District. Investigators deployed 17 officers, including the division chief, and collected work records and internal network logs related to the former Chinese developer who has been identified as the source of the data breach.

Police plan to analyze the collected digital evidence to determine the full scope of the case, including who leaked the information, how it was leaked and what triggered the breach. Police received a complaint from Coupang on Nov. 25 and have since been tracing IP addresses and reviewing server log files that the company voluntarily submitted.

The top priority of the investigation is locating and arresting the former Chinese developer who is suspected of stealing the information and later sending threatening emails to Coupang. Depending on how the investigation unfolds, authorities may expand the probe to examine whether Coupang’s management bears responsibility for inadequate security oversight. When previously asked by reporters whether the inquiry would assess Coupang’s accountability, police said they were “keeping that possibility open and continuing the investigation.”

Public anxiety has reached a peak. Reports indicate that the leaked data includes not only names and mobile phone numbers but also sensitive delivery addresses. Concerns about secondary harm such as spam messages and voice phishing are rising, and users on online communities have posted screenshots showing they deleted their Coupang accounts.

This marks the first time this year that police have executed a search and seizure to determine the cause of a large-scale data breach. In March, police did not raid SK Telecom headquarters during a hacking case. In a separate incident involving KT, where hacking occurred through small base stations known as femtocells, police searched the headquarters only on suspicion of obstruction during the disposal of the femtocells.


정서영 cero@donga.com