LG sued for personal info leak LG전자, 지원서 유출로 집단소송 당해

LG sued for personal info leak LG전자, 지원서 유출로 집단소송 당해

 

 

More than 100 job applicants filed a class action suit yesterday against LG Electronics for leaking their private information online.

The police have already begun investigations on the matter.

On Sept. 26, the personal information of over 22,000 applicants for LG Electronics jobs was made public for about an hour through the portal Daum.net, where unauthorized people could have accessed private details such as the applicants` pictures, academic grades and TOEIC English test scores.

LG Electronic has called the incident an "illegal hacking attempt," and said the resumes contained the applicants` names, academic records and job careers, but not their home addresses and resident registration numbers.

It also said in a statement that additional information was not downloaded.

However, the victimized applicants demanded LG Electronics to pay at least 20 million won individually in damages.

"The applicants are facing a risky situation in which their leaked personal information can be misused by anyone for any purpose, so we`re demanding compensation for their mental distress," applicants` lawyer Kim Yeon-ho said.

Police launched an investigation into Daum.net that carried the access link, and requested the company to submit related documents on the incident.

LG Electronics has not made an official apology to the victims yet, but said it would take legal action against an applicant, who allegedly circulated the link for resumes because LG did not hire him.

A member of Daum internet cafe "Job Break" had applied for a job at LG Electronics last month, but was not hired. The member, whose cafe nickname is "Pink Paeta," then posted the link, saying he did it because he was not hired.

Job Break cafe is one of the most popular job-search sites in Korea. It has more than 610,000 registered members, who are mostly college seniors and graduates.

Police said it is tracking down the IP address of the person who posted the link. They also said that an estimated 3,000-4,000 victims had their resumes leaked.

The victims created an online website to prepare the class action suit right after the incident, and over 500 people have signed up for it.

 

 

(aibang@heraldm.com) By Annie I. Bang