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The Korean National Police Agency headquarters in Seoul. (Photo = Yonhap News) |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Seoul, September 19, 2025 – The National Office of Investigation under the Korean National Police Agency announced on September 19 that it has launched a probe into the large-scale data breach at Lotte Card, in which customer information was compromised due to a hacking incident.
Police officials said they began investigating earlier this month after multiple media reports highlighted the breach. Authorities will first work with Lotte Card to determine the scope and method of the data theft before moving forward to track down the perpetrators.
On September 18, Lotte Card confirmed at a press briefing that personal information belonging to approximately 2.969 million customers had been exposed following an external hacking attack. The company also revealed that for 283,000 customers (9.5%), sensitive information such as card PIN numbers and CVC codes had been leaked.
Initially, Lotte Card reported the volume of leaked data as 1.7GB, but during further investigations conducted by the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Security Institute, the scale was revised upward to 200GB.
The investigation is expected to focus on identifying vulnerabilities in Lotte Card’s systems, clarifying whether security protocols were properly followed, and pursuing those responsible for the breach.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
