South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission imposed a record 624.7 billion won fine on Coupang over a large-scale personal data breach, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
The penalty is reportedly the largest ever imposed in the country for a personal information breach, surpassing the 134.8 billion won fine levied on SK Telecom last year.
The regulator said a former employee improperly accessed personal information from nearly 34 million user accounts, and that the breach went undetected for months, according to the report.
The commission attributed the incident to inadequate internal controls and data protection measures rather than a sophisticated cyberattack, it added.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)