S. Korea launches task force for Coupang data breach probe

Seoul, Dec 23 (IANS) South Korea on Tuesday launched an interagency task force (TF) to carry out an investigation into the recent data breach at US e-commerce giant Coupang that affected 33.7 million users.

The new TF, comprising officials from the science and labor ministries, along with the media watchdog, financial authorities, the police and the spy agency, held its first meeting on the day to investigate facts behind the breach, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The task force will discuss ways to protect users and revamp data protection policies, the ministry said.

"The government considers the Coupang incident a major social crisis that has damaged public trust," Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung said in a release.

"Through the government-wide TF, we will investigate the cause of the incident and identify accountability, while protecting users and strengthening corporate social responsibility," Ryu added.

Ryu said the government will "take stern measures" if the investigation reveals any legal violations by Coupang.

In November, Coupang said the personal information of its customers had been compromised, indicating that data, such as names, phone numbers, email addresses and delivery details of nearly all members, has been affected.

Meanwhile, Coupang’s daily active user (DAU) count has fallen to the 14 million range following the e-commerce giant's disclosure of a massive data breach late last month, industry data showed on Monday.

Coupang's estimated DAU had stood at 14.88 million as of Friday, according to MobileIndex, a data platform operated by industry tracker IGAWorks, reports Yonhap news agency.

The figure marked the first time Coupang's daily user count dropped into the 14 million range since Oct. 25, when it recorded 14.91 million users.

Over the roughly three-month period from early October through Friday, Coupang's daily user count fell below 15 million on only three occasions -- Oct. 4-6 during the Chuseok holiday period, Oct. 25 and Dec. 19.

On Nov. 29, Coupang confirmed that the personal information of 33.7 million customer accounts had been exposed, far exceeding the 4,500 accounts initially reported to authorities on Nov. 20.

The number of affected accounts is equivalent to nearly two-thirds of South Korea's population.