Lotte Card Hacking Damage More Severe Than Expected... Public Apology to Be Announced Soon

Financial authorities may announce investigation results as early as this week
Number of victims could reach millions, not just tens of thousands

Concerns among customers are growing as the scale of damage from the Lotte Card hacking incident is expected to be larger than initially anticipated.

According to financial authorities and the credit card industry on September 17, Lotte Card and the financial authorities are currently verifying the status of information leakage and the number of victims resulting from the hacking incident. The investigation is expected to be completed as early as this week. Once the results are released, Lotte Card CEO Cho Jwajin is expected to personally issue a public apology and announce the scope of compensation for damages.

Initially, Lotte Card reported to the Financial Supervisory Service that the volume of leaked data was approximately 1.7 gigabytes (GB). However, on-site inspections by financial authorities have revealed that the scale of the damage is far more severe than previously thought. The scope of leaked information is reported to include not only basic personal data but also card information and online payment request records. In a report submitted to the office of National Assemblyman Kang Min-guk, the Financial Supervisory Service stated, "It appears that card information and online payment request records are included in the leaked data."

Lotte Card Headquarters Building View. Lotte Card

There are also projections that the number of victims could reach millions, rather than the tens of thousands initially estimated. Lotte Card has approximately 9.6 million members. However, Lotte Card stated, "The hacking affected the internet payment server," and added, "The information stored there is limited, and the period of exposure was also restricted, so it is impossible for all member data to have been leaked."

The fact that MBK Partners, a private equity fund, is the largest shareholder of Lotte Card is also drawing close attention from financial authorities. Some have raised concerns that MBK Partners, after acquiring Lotte Card, may have neglected security investments in pursuit of maximizing profits.

On September 4, President Lee Jaemyung stated, "There have been a series of hacking incidents at telecommunications and financial companies recently, causing great anxiety among the public," and instructed, "Take swift action to ensure strong measures, including punitive fines, are imposed on companies that repeatedly experience security breaches."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.