Chanel Korea apologizes for personal data leak

The South Korean unit of French luxury brand Chanel has apologized after a recent cyberattack in which hackers leaked customers’ personal data.

In a statement on the website on Sunday, the company said it had learned that the personal information of some customers from its membership database for the Fragrance and Beauty division-- including names, birth dates, phone numbers and shopping histories -- had been breached last week.

Their payment information, IDs and passwords were not leaked, however, it added.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the matter and the inconvenience it caused.”

Following the incident, Chanel Korea said it had identified the cause and blocked the IP address behind the hacking.

”We have engaged a leading independent cybersecurity firm to conduct an investigation and identified no evidence of further impact on other systems and data.

“The incident was immediately reported to the government authority KISA, and now being thoroughly investigated by the KISA and the relevant authority PIPC,“ one representative for Chanel Korea told The Korea Herald.

Those whose information was breached were notified via email and text message, and the company encouraged people to come forward if they thought their information had also been breached.

Names, phone numbers and birth dates are collected when shoppers agree to be on Chanel Korea’s database.

”Data security is an absolute priority for Chanel, and we have dedicated significant resources to ensure it undergoes constant monitoring and adjustment to immediately detect any malicious activities such as this incident,“ the company said.

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)