Published: 16 Jun. 2025, 18:43
A Yes24 secondhand bookstore in Seoul on June 12 [NEWS1]
A week after a ransomware attack paralyzed book and ticket seller Yes24’s systems, co-CEOs Kim Suk-hwan and Choi Se-ra issued an official apology on Monday and pledged to provide compensation.
“We deeply bow our heads in apology to all those affected, including our customers and partner companies,” the two executives said in a statement on Monday.
“Yes24 is a platform that has grown based on customer trust,” they continued. “We take seriously the fact that this trust has been shaken by the incident and are dedicating all our resources to recovery and rebuilding that trust.”
The company stated that it is preparing compensation standards based on service type for customers affected by the outage.
“We will announce the first round of compensation today and provide further updates on additional measures through our website,” they said.
Yes24 also said it is working with external cybersecurity experts to investigate the cause of the breach and conduct a security audit. The company pledged to disclose the findings of the government investigation transparently.
“We plan to reassess our entire security infrastructure,” they said, emphasizing their commitment to strengthening the platform’s reliability and resilience by expanding the cybersecurity budget, bringing in an external security advisory group, and improving all aspects of system design and operations.
Yes24 was hit by a ransomware attack on June 9 that paralyzed its app and online services. By June 13 — five days later — key features such as book, music, DVD, stationery and gift purchases had been restored.
However, some services such as “My Page” and “My Reviews & Comments” remain unavailable.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY LEE JI-YOUNG [[email protected]]
