Tving data breach victims outraged over 70,000-won compensation offer

"Should I laugh or cry? After having my personal data leaked twice, the compensation I'm getting amounts to 70,000 won ($51) …" said a woman in her 30s, identified only as A, who works at a company.

A is a victim of both the KT Corp data breach and the Tving data breach. For the KT incident, she chose a compensation package worth about 57,000 won — a six-month Tving subscription. When Tving itself suffered a data breach, the compensation she stood to receive was a coupon bundle worth roughly 10,500 won: 5,000 Tving points and a one-month Wavve subscription coupon valued at 5,500 won. "Is my personal information worth just 70,000 won?" she said, fuming.

At an official apology and briefing on the cyberattack held Thursday at Coreana Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, Tving announced a customer compensation package that includes a one-year anti-hacking and anti-phishing insurance policy, a premium viewing environment upgrade, 50 Tving points (worth 5,000 won), and — the customer's choice of one — either a one-month Wavve subscription or a 5,000-won discount coupon for a CGV combo set.

The announcement drew immediate disbelief from users like A who had been caught up in the Tving data breach. The usable coupon value comes to no more than 10,500 won.

Subscribers who had originally chosen Tving as compensation for the KT data breach were particularly incensed that the total still fell short of 70,000 won. Their frustration is summed up in the question: "Is my personal information worth just 70,000 won?"

Cases like A's are expected to number close to 420,000. According to the National Assembly, about 586,000 customers chose a Tving subscription through KT Corp's customer appreciation program, which ran from late last year through early this year. Of those, about 416,000 actually registered and used the service.

B, another victim who suffered data breaches at both companies, said: "My personal information was leaked at KT, and I got a Tving subscription as compensation — then Tving leaked my data too. That alone is outrageous, but the compensation Tving is offering feels like a joke."

Online communities were equally critical. Comments included calls to "impose sanctions like those on Coupang Inc," accusations that Tving had "in effect gone silent," and demands to know "when the real compensation will come."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT released the findings of a joint public-private investigation team into the Tving cyberattack on Thursday, a move expected to accelerate action by the Personal Information Protection Commission, including potential fines over the data leak.

However, Tving will not be subject to retroactive application of the strengthened Personal Information Protection Act. As a result, the maximum fine the commission can impose on Tving is expected to be around 11.7 billion won. Even that figure could fall below 10 billion won once aggravating and mitigating factors are applied.