[News Today] Massive data leak at matchmaker ‘Duo’

[LEAD]

A massive data breach has hit Korea's largest matchmaking firm, Duo. Personal information of some 420,000 members has been leaked. Not just IDs and passwords, but highly sensitive details, including marital history, workplace, and even body weight, have fallen into the hands of hackers.

[REPORT]

'Duo', the largest matchmaking firm in Korea.

A massive amount of sensitive information of its members occurred in January last year. It included the members' names, resident registration numbers, marital history, workplaces, body weight, and assets.

The leak affected a total of 427,000 members.

The scope of damage was especially large because data of some 300,000 people was not destroyed after their contracts with the firm ended.

An investigation has revealed that data breach occurred when the firm's personal data manager accessed a website infected with malware, exposing the computer to hackers, who found that it was unpatched and accessed member information.

It's a so-called zero-day attack.

Kim Jin-wook / Lawyer

AI has made it possible to uncover vulnerabilities that security technologies were unable to detect. Continuous monitoring can help prevent data leaks to some extent.

According to relevant laws, a data breach must be reported within 72 hours from the time it is detected.

However, it has been found that Duo failed to do so without a legitimate reason.

The Personal Information Protection Commission has imposed a fine of over KRW 1.1 billion, or about 742,000 U.S. dollars, on Duo and ordered the company to improve its data security.