Delivery trucks waiting at a Coupang logistics center in Seoul. [Photo: Yonhap News]
Coupang has significantly increased its investment in information security, expanding it by more than 50% compared to the previous year.
On June 30, Coupang reported to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) that its investment in information security reached 134.9 billion won last year, marking a 51.6% increase from 88.9 billion won in 2024.
The company's investment in information security has gradually increased from 63.9 billion won in 2022 to 65.9 billion won in 2023 before seeing a substantial rise in 2024. This investment includes costs for system maintenance, external services, labor, and training.
Specifically, the investment related to information security personnel increased by 28.72 billion won, while outsourcing costs for system development, maintenance, and support rose by 29.38 billion won. The number of dedicated information security personnel grew from 211.6 to 370.1, an increase of about 75%, which is ten times the overall employee growth rate of 7.4% at Coupang during the same period.
Coupang's total investment in information technology (IT) reached 2.5725 trillion won, a 34.2% increase from the previous year. Consequently, the proportion of information security investment relative to IT investment rose to 5.2%, up from 4.6% the previous year.
In comparison, Coupang's e-commerce competitor Naver invested 66.03 billion won in information security last year and employed 154 dedicated personnel, about half of Coupang's figures. Other major retailers reported lower investments and personnel in information security: E-Mart with 8 billion won and 18.9 personnel, Hyundai Department Store with 3 billion won and 13.9 personnel, Hyundai Home Shopping with 2.8 billion won and 11.9 personnel, and Shinsegae with 3.38 billion won and 10.8 personnel. Lotte Shopping and Gmarket have yet to disclose their investment figures for last year.
However, this announcement reflects data from the previous business year and does not account for the investment made after the data breach incident that occurred at the end of last year.
Meanwhile, the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee resumed its collective dispute mediation process on June 12, following the conclusion of the Korea Personal Information Protection Commission's sanctions against Coupang. The committee accepted additional applications for 15 days until June 26, resulting in 143,000 new applicants. This brings the total number of applicants for the existing collective dispute mediation cases to over 146,000, including 1,676 individuals from two cases and 977 individuals from personal dispute mediation applications.