SEOUL, April 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's financial watchdog on Monday launched a special investigation into the leak of personal information from Hyundai Capital, the country's major lending company and a financial unit of Hyundai Motor Group.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) dispatched investigators to the company's headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Monday morning to look into the incident in order to determine the extent of the breach and the content of the stolen information.
Hyundai Capital said personal information on 420,000 of its 1.8 million customers was leaked when an unidentified hacker attacked its database. It also said that its internal investigation revealed that not just personal data -- names, residential registration numbers, mobile phone numbers and e-mail addresses -- but also key financial data required to make financial transactions, such as passwords to loan services, were hacked.
The case has been under police investigation since Thursday last week, when the company received a blackmailing e-mail from the hacker and learned about the data leak.
Hyundai Capital specializes in personal loans, home mortgages, and auto financing.
