South Korean regulators fined e-commerce giant Coupang a record 624.7 billion won (US$410 million) over privacy violations Thursday. This photo, taken Thursday, shows Coupang headquarters in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap
South Korea's data protection regulator on Thursday fined e-commerce company Coupang Corp. a record 624.7 billion won (US$410 million) over privacy violations, including a massive data breach that affected more than 37 million users.
The Personal Information Protection Commission has decided to impose a record fine of 423.6 billion won for the data breach and levy an additional 201.1 billion-won fine for the unauthorized collection of records of online user activities and other violations.
It marked the largest fine ever imposed by the regulator on a single company, according to the commission.
"The investigation found that this incident happened not by sophisticated hacking, but due to Coupang's inadequate safety management system," Song Kyung-hee, the watchdog's chief, said in a briefing.
