A former employee who stole and distributed the personal information of hundreds of current and former employees by using CJ Group's internal network has been handed over to prosecutors. No secondary damage has occurred so far.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's cybercrime investigation unit said on the 27th that on the 25th it referred a man, identified only as A, to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office on suspicion of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.
A is suspected of leaking the names, titles, departments, mobile phone numbers, photos, and other information of current and former CJ Group employees to a Telegram channel he created, starting in May 2023 while he was employed at CJ Group.
The number of victims of the personal information leak is about 330, and most are said to be women in their 20s and 30s.
It is known that about 2,800 people participated in the channel where the personal information was distributed, and it was found that ownership was traded with cryptocurrency at the end of last year.
After leaving the company when his contract expired, A continued the crime by distributing the employee personal information he had siphoned off during his tenure on Telegram.
Earlier, CJ Group identified former employee A as a suspect and filed a complaint with police on May 19. The company is said to have determined, based on materials analyzed immediately after recognizing the leak, that the crime occurred internally rather than through external hacking.
Police said, "We swiftly arrested the culprit to prevent secondary damage and, through international cooperation, took action to shut down the Telegram channel."
Police explained that, so far, no secondary damage has occurred, such as the distribution of sexually exploitative materials created by deepfake synthesis of victims' photos or the leakage of additional information.