SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean police have launched a criminal investigation into e-commerce giant Coupang following a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of approximately 33.7 million users, raising concerns over corporate cybersecurity practices and user privacy safeguards.
On Monday morning, a team of 17 investigators, led by a senior police superintendent from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cybercrime division, carried out a court-authorized search and seizure operation at Coupang’s headquarters in Seoul’s Songpa District. The raid marks the first compulsory step in an expanding probe into what is now considered one of the largest data breaches in South Korea’s digital history.
Authorities are examining internal systems, server logs, and other digital evidence to determine how the breach occurred and whether internal security lapses at the company contributed to the incident. Coupang, which initially reported the breach on November 18, had first estimated the number of compromised accounts at around 4,500. That figure has since ballooned to over 33 million.
“The search is a necessary step to understand the full scope of the incident,” a police spokesperson said. “We are investigating not only the identity of the perpetrator but also the technical vulnerabilities and internal processes that may have enabled the breach.”
Coupang has pointed to a former employee — reportedly a Chinese national — as a likely suspect. However, police officials have not confirmed any charges and are said to be treating the case with caution as they analyze the seized evidence. So far, authorities and Coupang both say there is no indication that the leaked data has been used in phishing scams or other secondary crimes.
The breach, however, appears to have shaken public trust. According to data analytics firm IGAWorks, Coupang’s daily active user count plummeted from nearly 17.99 million on December 1 to about 16.17 million just four days later — a drop of over 1.8 million users.
Coupang, often described as South Korea’s equivalent to Amazon, holds vast amounts of user data due to its dominant position in the country’s online retail sector. The scale of the breach has prompted questions about whether such companies are investing enough in data security, especially as they expand operations and handle increasingly sensitive user information.
While the investigation continues, observers say the outcome could have broader implications for how tech companies manage privacy risks — and how aggressively regulators enforce protections in the digital age.
🔍 Key Takeaways:
-South Korean police raided Coupang’s headquarters as part of an investigation into a data breach affecting 33.7 million users.
-Authorities are examining whether Coupang’s internal security systems contributed to the leak.
-User trust appears shaken: the company lost over 1.8 million daily users in just four days.
