Douzone Bizon learned of hack only after tip from unknown person

Douzone Bizon was unaware it had been hacked until an unidentified person tipped off the company, it has been confirmed.

The enterprise software firm has also yet to establish whether a first breach of its development server and a second attack targeting its backup server are related.

According to a breach incident report — Douzone Bizon's first-hack filing — obtained through the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jang-gyeom, the company first learned of the initial intrusion at around 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, when an unidentified person made contact.

Douzone Bizon stated in the filing that it "received an email from an unidentified person saying the company had been hacked" and that an internal investigation "confirmed signs that a third party had accessed the development server via VPN." The disclosure means the company had no knowledge of the breach until someone outside alerted it.

The incident was formally reported at 5:22 p.m. on Oct. 16. In a notice posted on its website, Douzone Bizon said signs of an attack by an unidentified person were detected on Oct. 15, and that an internal probe confirmed records indicating the person had gained unauthorized access to internal systems through a VPN account and browsed data.

The company identified personal information held and managed by some users of Smart A 10, its enterprise resource planning system, as potentially compromised. The data at risk includes names, resident registration numbers (with the last six digits encrypted), bank account numbers (encrypted), addresses, mobile phone numbers and email addresses.

About five days after the first breach, at 2:29 p.m. on Oct. 20, the company confirmed a second hack. Douzone Bizon has still not been able to determine whether the two incidents — the first targeting the development server and the second the backup server — are connected.

In a second breach report filed at 2:16 p.m. on Oct. 21, Douzone Bizon said it "additionally discovered signs of intrusion exploiting a vulnerability in the backup solution during our own inspection process," but added that "the connection to the Oct. 16 report (first hack) is currently under review."

Meanwhile, concern is growing that up to 110,000 corporate clients may be exposed to the risk of personal data leaks as the fallout from the hack of the enterprise software provider continues to widen.