South Korea's premier e-commerce platform, Coupang, has fallen victim to the nation's most significant data breach in over ten years. Local police have launched a thorough investigation, focusing on tracing IP addresses and pinpointing technical flaws within the system. The cyberattack, which originated from overseas servers on June 24 and remained undetected by Coupang until November 18, has led to the unauthorized disclosure of personal information belonging to over 33 million users.

The South Korean Minister of Science and ICT highlighted that the attackers took advantage of vulnerabilities in server authentication processes. Authorities are set to conduct a comprehensive inquiry to determine if Coupang violated any regulatory standards. Suspicion has arisen around a former Chinese employee who was in charge of authentication tasks, with Coupang suggesting this individual may have played a pivotal role in the breach. A member of parliament disclosed that, following the termination of the ex-employee's contract, his authentication key continued to be operational.

Both the police and Coupang have declined to provide comments on matters concerning potential suspects. As of the afternoon of December 1, more than 10,000 individuals have expressed their intent to join a class-action lawsuit, with possible legal action seeking compensation in excess of KRW 100,000 for each affected victim. Coupang, South Korea's leading e-commerce site, is presently engaged in an aggressive expansion across various business sectors.