Seoul, South Korea – GS Retail, a major South Korean retail conglomerate, has announced a second significant data breach within a month, this time affecting approximately 1.58 million customers of its online shopping platform, GS Shop.

This incident follows a previous breach in January, where the company's convenience store chain, GS25, experienced a cyberattack that compromised the personal information of around 90,000 customers.

GS Retail revealed that the latest breach was discovered during an analysis of unusual login attempts detected in January. The company found that hackers had exploited previously leaked usernames and passwords from other websites to gain unauthorized access to GS Shop accounts.

The compromised data includes a range of personal information, such as names, genders, birthdates, contact details, addresses, email addresses, marital status, anniversary dates, and personal customs clearance codes. However, GS Retail assured customers that financial information like membership points and payment details were not affected.

The company has taken immediate action to block the IP addresses and attack patterns used by the hackers and has locked the affected GS Shop accounts. Customers are being notified and advised to change their passwords, with enhanced login verification procedures being implemented.

GS Retail has issued a formal apology to its customers and is conducting a thorough investigation into the incident to prevent future occurrences. The company is also working with relevant authorities to address the breach and mitigate any potential harm to affected individuals.