Seoul, Dec 22 (IANS) 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.

Given that active users of Coupang’s Product Commerce division, including its delivery service, reached 24.7 million in the third quarter, the scale of the breach suggests that nearly the entire user base may have been affected.

The company said the compromised data included users’ names, phone numbers, email addresses and delivery addresses.

Coupang’s DAU temporarily surged following the disclosure, rising into the 17 million range from Nov. 30 through Dec. 3 and reaching an all-time high of 17.98 million on Dec. 1, as users accessed the platform to check their accounts and review security settings.

Since Dec. 10, however, the figure has slipped back to the mid-15 million range, showing a gradual downward trend.

Meanwhile, the ruling Democratic Party said it plans to hold a joint parliamentary hearing involving five standing committees on Dec. 30 and 31 to address the data breach incident.

–IANS

na/