Louis Vuitton Hong Kong faces probe for data breach affecting 419,000 customers

The privacy watchdog has launched an investigation after Louis Vuitton Hong Kong suffered a data breach that compromised the personal information of about 419,000 customers in the city.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data said on Saturday that Louis Vuitton Hong Kong had notified them of the breach on Thursday.

According to the company, its French head office initially detected suspicious activity within its computer system on June 13. It was later confirmed on July 2 that the incident had impacted the city’s customers, with Louis Vuitton Hong Kong becoming aware on the same day, the watchdog said.

It added that preliminary findings indicated that the breach exposed a range of personal data belonging to about 419,000 Hong Kong customers. This included names, passport numbers, dates of birth, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, shopping history and product preferences.

“The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has launched an investigation into Louis Vuitton Hong Kong in accordance with established procedures, including whether the incident involved delayed notification. No related complaints or inquiries have been received so far,” it said.

In reply to the Post’s inquiries, Louis Vuitton Hong Kong said it recently discovered an unauthorised party accessed some of the data it held for clients, and immediately took steps to investigate and contain the incident with the support of cybersecurity experts.

“While our investigation is ongoing, we can confirm that no payment information was contained in the database accessed,” it said.