Seoul, Feb 5 (IANS) E-commerce giant Coupang said on Thursday it has discovered a data leak of personal information from more than 165,000 customer accounts linked to an incident it first identified in November last year.

The leaked data includes names, phone numbers and addresses entered by customers on the address list for shipping, and the company has notified affected customers of the breach in line with recommendations from the state personal information protection watchdog, Coupang said.

The disclosure came as Coupang has come under intense scrutiny over the massive data leak revealed in November that has affected more than 33 million customers in South Korea and prompted authorities to launch an investigation, reports Yonhap news agency.

Coupang had independently announced that data from only 3,000 accounts was leaked, a figure authorities dispute. The company said the latest data leak is not a new case but was found in connection with the November incident.

Earlier, the interim CEO of Coupang underwent 12 hours of intensive police questioning over allegations of destruction of evidence linked to a massive data breach at the e-commerce company.

Harold Rogers declined to answer reporters’ questions on whether he admitted to the charges or intended to leave the country, reports Yonhap news agency.

Rogers faces accusations of obstructing official investigations into the breach estimated to have affected nearly 33 million users. Coupang had independently announced that data from only 3,000 accounts was leaked, a figure authorities dispute.

Police, who suspect more than 30 million accounts were affected, are investigating the reliability of Coupang’s internal probe. The government has criticised the company’s findings as one-sided.

Meanwhile, a special counsel team has questioned the top executive of a Coupang Corp. affiliate over allegations of unpaid severance pay for company employees. Chung Jong-chul, CEO of Coupang Fulfillment Services (CFS), a logistics subsidiary of Coupang, appeared at the office of special counsel Ann Gweon-seob to be grilled as a suspect about the company’s severance pay dispute.

—IANS

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