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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] SEOUL, November 9, 2025 — The labor union of the Samsung Group filed a formal accusation on November 9 alleging that personal, highly sensitive data of some 5,000 employees of Samsung Biologics Co., Ltd.—including registration numbers, salaries, performance evaluations, and low-performance lists—were exposed through a shared work folder.
The union claims the company acknowledged the incident but refused to report the breach to the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) or the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), prompting the union to submit a report instead.
According to the union’s statement, the data leak was discovered on November 6 when employees found a publicly accessible folder on an internal server that contained HR data for roughly 5,000 staff, including national ID numbers, salaries, performance histories, and lists of low-performing staff.
The union also alleges that internal documents tracked union executive movements and minor infractions, citing files tagged “NJ (union)” that monitored three union leaders’ café visits and rest-break times.
“The folder contained statements such as ‘Employees with mental-health issues may not remain with the company,’ and other HR policy content that raises serious legal risks,” said Park Jae-sung, branch chief of the Samsung Biologics union.
The union claims that the company tried to forcibly enter the union office and seize union laptops under the guise of “data-protection” actions but failed.
Under South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act, companies that fail to report a personal-data breach may face administrative fines and criminal penalties of up to 2 years’ imprisonment or fines of up to ₩20 million (≈ US $15,000).
Samsung Biologics has responded that it is “currently reviewing the matter.” No formal public disclosure has yet been made to the PIPC or KISA.
In parallel, the company’s published Data Integrity Reporting Center page invites confidential reports of data-integrity violations, though it remains unclear whether this incident was logged via that channel.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
