Tving CEO Choi Ju-hee. [Tving]
Tving CEO Choi Ju-hee. [Tving]

Choi Ju-hee, chief executive of streaming service Tving, issued a public apology Tuesday over a personal data breach that exposed user information.

"I sincerely apologize to our users for the serious concern caused by this personal data breach," Choi said in the statement. She confirmed that user data had been leaked through unauthorized external access, adding, "The responsibility lies entirely with Tving."

Choi said the company had implemented necessary response measures after confirming the incident and is cooperating fully with government and relevant authorities. "We will communicate transparently about the progress and follow-up measures," she said, adding that affected users are being notified individually. "We will take responsibility to the end for damage relief and user protection," she added.

Tving had reported the data breach to the Ministry of Science and ICT on June 1.

The company said it confirmed on June 2 that an unidentified hacker had gained unauthorized access to the database storing user personal information and transferred the files externally.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) requested that Tving preserve relevant data and launched a probe into the cause of the incident and the scale of damage.

An emergency session of the cybersecurity incident investigation deliberation committee concluded that the breach constitutes a serious incident requiring the formation of a joint public-private investigation team. The Ministry of Science and ICT decided to establish the team based on the committee's findings.

In addition to ministry officials and KISA, the investigation team includes private-sector experts in digital forensics and cloud services.


joze@heraldcorp.com