South Korea’s Hollys Coffee Reports Data Breach Affecting 2.76 Million Pieces of Customer Information

South Korean coffee chain Hollys has reported a cyberattack involving the theft of 2.76 million pieces of customer information, including dates of birth, phone numbers, addresses and email addresses, in the latest in a series of cyberattacks targeting local companies.

According to a notice posted on the company’s website, hackers accessed its membership programme sometime between September 3 and October 7, when unauthorised access to the system was detected. The company said it was investigating the incident to determine the exact scope of the data breach.

Hollys said the leaked information consisted of temporary data files retained from an earlier overhaul of its membership service, rather than data from its currently active customer database.

“We sincerely apologize for causing customer concern from this incident. We will make our utmost efforts to protect customer data and minimize damage from the breach,” the company said in its notice.

The incident follows a series of data breaches affecting South Korean financial institutions earlier this month. Financial regulators said around 100,000 cases of leaked personal information were suspected across 16 financial institutions as of Friday.

Several financial firms, including KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank, were affected by hacking incidents involving customer and other information.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said the affected institutions were examining whether additional data breaches had occurred. It added that bank account numbers, credit card numbers and other sensitive information had not been leaked in the incidents under review.

Hollys operates around 530 outlets across South Korea and is owned by KG Group, a local conglomerate with business interests ranging from steelmaking to car manufacturing and logistics.

The company said its investigation into the membership programme breach was ongoing.