April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Duty Free’s websites were hacked on March 2, making them inaccessible, with the daily losses pegged at 4 billion won (US$3.50 million).

According to the company, all its four websites including the mobile app services went down at 12 p.m. on March 2. There is speculation that some Chinese are behind the hacking in retaliation for Lotte’s decision to provide land for the deployment of THAAD. 

“All of the Lotte Duty Free sites on PCs and mobile appa have been inaccessible since the attack. We suspect that DDos (Distributed Denial of Service) was utilized and our response team is analyzing the online services to figure out the cause as well as the culprits,” said a Lotte Duty Free official.

Lotte currently operates four websites in different languages -- Korean, Chinese, Japanese and English. The company’s total revenue last year was nearly 6 trillion won and 24 percent of its sales was attributed to its online services.

Since Lotte finalized the THAAD agreement on Feb. 28, there has been much push back from China. For instance, the Lotte Group’s website in China along with its primary online distribution sites have been shut down. In addition all-round tax and safety inspections have been carried out at Lotte’s distribution affiliate stores operated across China.

Lotte currently has 120 stores that include department stores, marts, and supermarkets in China. Despite the short-term losses, Lotte has continued to invest heavily in the nation for its market prospects. However, industry sources now suspect that if China continues to sabotage Lotte’s business interest any further with boycotts and regulations, the company might need to seriously consider withdrawing all its operations.

By Alex Lee (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)