South Korean cybersecurity authorities have determined that approximately 9.6 million accounts were impacted by a recent cyberattack on Kyowon Group, a local education service provider. The investigation team, which includes the Korea Internet & Security Agency, arrived at this estimate following Kyowon Group’s disclosure of a potential breach earlier this week. Kyowon Group first noticed unusual activities within its internal system on Saturday, leading to the identification of a potential data breach.
The authorities have identified that 600 out of the company’s 800 servers were affected by the breach. Additionally, the investigation team found that Kyowon Group’s eight affiliates collectively had 13 million members, which reduced to 5.54 million after eliminating overlaps. The 9.6 million estimate includes users with multiple accounts. Given Kyowon Group’s diverse business operations, such as tutoring, home appliance rentals, and funeral services, experts suggest that the number of affected individuals could be significant.
Kyowon Group has not yet confirmed whether personal data of its members was actually exposed. The company stated that they are investigating the situation in collaboration with relevant organizations and security institutions to ascertain if consumer data was compromised. If a data leak is confirmed, Kyowon Group has pledged to inform users transparently about the incident.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, over 150,000 customers of KT Corp., the second-largest mobile carrier in South Korea, have switched to other service providers following a significant data breach. Industry sources revealed that 154,851 KT users migrated to rival carriers between December 31 and Thursday, with an average of more than 17,000 departures daily. Similarly, SK Telecom, the largest carrier in the country, experienced a loss of around 160,000 users after implementing penalty waivers in response to a data leak earlier this year.
