A cyberattack on Daegu’s public delivery app Daeguro exposed about 25,000 merchant bank account records, bringing a security threat directly into the payment operations of local small businesses. The compromised information included account numbers and account-holder details belonging to current and former merchants. Daegu city and operator Inseong Data said no leak of ordinary users’ personal information had been confirmed.
The intrusion occurred on October 31 and was detected by the operator on November 1. Inseong Data reported the incident to the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency and notified the Korea Internet and Security Agency on November 2. Affected merchants were not informed until November 4, prompting criticism that notification came four days after the breach.
- Intrusion
- October 31
- Operator detected breach
- November 1
- Merchants notified
- November 4
Around 250 sets of system login credentials for current and former Inseong Data employees were also exposed. The operator reset employee account information and temporarily restricted its internal withdrawal system while conducting checks. New merchant registrations were suspended as investigators examined whether the system used to process merchant applications had provided the route for the intrusion.
Registration suspended as the intrusion route is investigated
The incident disrupted merchant onboarding and settlement-related operations even though Daeguro held government-recognized Information Security Management System certification. The breach does not by itself establish why the certified controls failed, and the precise attack method has not been confirmed. Suggestions that artificial intelligence may have been used in the attack also remain unverified.
No financial loss linked to the breach had been confirmed as of the reports, but the exposed banking details create a risk of impersonation and secondary fraud targeting merchants. Daeguro said it does not request settlement-account changes, passwords or authentication codes by telephone or text message. Merchants receiving such requests were advised not to provide information and to report suspicious contacts to the service’s customer center.