Description

South Korea’s data protection regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), has fined luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior Couture, and Tiffany & Co. a combined $25 million for failing to implement adequate security safeguards, resulting in data breaches that exposed information belonging to more than 5.5 million customers. All three brands operate under the LVMH group and were compromised after attackers gained unauthorized access to a cloud-based customer relationship management software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. The breaches led to the exposure of sensitive personal data, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, and purchase histories. PIPC emphasized that outsourcing data management to SaaS providers does not absolve organizations of their responsibility to implement strong security controls and ensure compliance with South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). In the case of Louis Vuitton, malware infection on an employee’s device enabled attackers to compromise the SaaS environment, affecting approximately 3.6 million customers. Investigations linked similar campaigns to the ShinyHunters group, known for targeting Salesforce environments, and the threat actor later claimed responsibility for breaching LVMH systems. PIPC found that Louis Vuitton had used the SaaS platform since 2013 but failed to restrict access by IP address or enforce secure authentication methods for external access. As a result, the regulator imposed a $16.4 million fine and ordered public disclosure of the penalty. Meanwhile, Dior suffered a phishing attack in which a customer service employee was deceived into granting system access, exposing 1.95 million customer records. Dior had not implemented IP allow-lists, bulk download restrictions, or adequate log monitoring, delaying detection by over three months. The company was fined $9.4 million for security and notification violations. Tiffany & Co. experienced a similar compromise through voice phishing targeting a customer service representative, though the impact was smaller, affecting approximately 4,600 customers. Like the other brands, Tiffany failed to implement IP-based access controls, restrict large-scale data exports, and promptly notify affected individuals as required by law. The company received a $1.85 million fine. Across all three cases, PIPC underscored that insufficient access controls, lack of monitoring, and delayed breach notifications constituted serious compliance failures. The regulator reiterated that adopting cloud-based SaaS solutions does not shift accountability to service providers; companies remain legally responsible for protecting customer data and implementing robust cybersecurity controls.