The fallout is growing as projections emerge that the number of victims of Lotte Card's "hacking incident" could reach from the hundreds of thousands to the low millions.
According to financial authorities and the card industry on Feb. 17, Lotte Card and financial authorities are verifying the scale of information leakage and the number of victims caused by the hacking incident. The investigation is in its final stage, and as early as this week, Lotte Card CEO Cho Jwa-jin is expected to personally issue a public apology and announce measures for victims.
Initially, the size of the leaked data that Lotte Card reported to the Financial Supervisory Service was about 1.7 gigabytes (GB), but the damage identified through on-site inspections by financial authorities is said to be far more serious than expected.
There are also projections that the number of victims will reach the seven-figure range, far higher than initially expected. Previously, there had been an outlook that the number of victims would be in the tens of thousands. The FSS, in materials reported to the office of National Assembly member Kang Min-guk, noted that "it appears to include online payment request records such as card information," keeping in mind the possibility of a customer information leak.
Financial authorities plan to announce the findings as early as this week. Attention is on whether Lotte Card, in a public apology, will announce customer compensation plans in addition to practical steps such as card replacement. Earlier, SK Telecom provided benefits such as T Membership partner discounts for one month as follow-up measures after a user hacking incident. As President Lee Jae-myung has called for a strong response to hacking incidents at telecom companies and financial firms, Lotte Card is also expected to prepare customer compensation plans.