A security breach in South Korea has led to the theft of personal information of about 20 million bank and credit card users.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the stolen data included the names of customers, social security numbers, phone numbers, and credit card numbers and expiration dates.
The reports indicate that the data was stolen from a system used by a contractor working for the Korea Credit Bureau (KCB) which provides credit scores.
Following the breach, the accused from KCB has reportedly been detained and held responsible for stealing consumer information from internal servers of three credit card firms including KB Kookmin Card, Lotte Card and NH Nonghyup Card.
The accused has reportedly sold the stolen information to phone marketing firms, whose managers were also detained earlier this month.
"The credit card firms will cover any financial losses caused to their customers due to the latest accident," the FSS said.
South Korean watchdogs are now investigating security measures at the three credit card firms to boost data safety, and a new task force has also been established to look into the impact of the theft.
Reports revealed that the accused were able to steal the data as it was unencrypted and the credit card firms were not aware of the incident until they were first told by the investigators.
