SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- HYBE, South Korea's largest music agency, was found to have suffered a personal information leak involving current and former employees in September, it was belatedly disclosed.

According to a notice posted on HYBE's website on Oct. 18, the names, resident registration numbers, passport numbers, bank account numbers, card numbers, mobile phone numbers, dates of birth and employee numbers of employees and officials from partner companies, as well as current and former employees, were leaked between Sept. 12-13 and Oct. 3-5.

HYBE said, "During a recent internal security inspection, we discovered signs of abnormal external access to a document preview solution provided by an outside company linked to our electronic approval system." It added that a subsequent investigation found similar abnormal access to its expense processing system.

The company said some internal documents stored in the two systems, along with personal information contained in them, were leaked externally.

"We deeply apologize for causing concern over the leakage of personal information," HYBE said. "We have taken security measures to prevent further exposure of the information, including completely blocking the IP addresses and access routes used in the attack. We have also completed reports to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Personal Information Protection Commission, the relevant authorities, in accordance with applicable laws."

HYBE added, "We will make every effort to prevent similar incidents from recurring by further strengthening access controls and security monitoring of our internal systems, thoroughly identifying the cause and improving our security system."

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