Nonprofit organization exposes names, resident registration numbers of high-value donors

A data leak at the Community Chest of Korea has exposed the names and resident registration numbers of hundreds of major donors who contributed more than 20 million won ($13,570).

Community Chest of Korea logo [COMMUNITY CHEST OF KOREA]

A data leak at the Community Chest of Korea has exposed the names and resident registration numbers of hundreds of major donors who contributed more than 20 million won ($13,570).

The nonprofit organization said on Thursday that it became aware of the breach on Wednesday afternoon and immediately began to respond to the incident.

A 2024 financial statement recently posted on its website contained the unredacted names and resident registration numbers of about 600 donors.

The charity publishes annual reports detailing donation records each year, but the version uploaded this time failed to redact sensitive personal information, according to the nonprofit. The list includes many high-value donors, such as politicians, business leaders and celebrities.

“We have formed a rapid response team and are currently addressing the situation,” a Community Chest representative said. “In accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act, we plan to notify affected individuals of the breach individually and report it to the relevant authorities [on Friday].”

Under the enforcement decree of the Personal Information Protection Act, organizations that detect a personal data breach must report it to the relevant authorities within 72 hours.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY HYEON YE-SEUL [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]