Samsung Electronics on the 16th notified staff that it had filed a criminal complaint against an employee identified as A, accusing the person of abusing an internal security system to unlawfully collect large amounts of employees' personal information and provide it to a third party.
On the 10th, after allegations surfaced that personal information was used to compile a list tracking whether employees had joined the labor union, Samsung Electronics formally asked police to investigate the matter. Following the so-called "blacklist drafting allegations," another incident involving personal information emerged, prompting an active response.
According to the industry, Samsung Electronics employee A queried employee information more than 20,000 times over about an hour through two internal systems. The collected data included employees' names, affiliated departments, and intranet IDs.
There is speculation that A intentionally secured large-scale data by using a "macro," an automated repetition program. The abnormal access was reportedly detected in real time by the company's information protection detection system.
Samsung Electronics also confirmed through an internal probe that A had provided personal information on numerous employees, collected since the past, to an internal third party in file form. Concluding that the data was likely used for private gain or a specific purpose, the company pursued legal action.
Separately, Samsung Electronics confirmed that a "list of nonunion members" had been circulated and reported it to police. A list specifying department names, full names, employee numbers, and union membership status was shared in a group messenger chat for a specific department, according to reports.
Samsung Electronics plans to strengthen systems and training to ensure employees' personal information is not improperly infringed. It also said it "will not allow any unauthorized use, for any reason."