Police said Monday they are investigating a hacking case involving a leak of more than 10 million customer data from a leading South Korean online shopping mall.

An unidentified suspect allegedly hacked into the server of Interpark Corp. and stole customer information, including names, addresses and phone numbers, in May, according to police.

Police suspect that the hacker sent an email containing malicious codes to the company officials and penetrated its database.

The investigation was launched earlier this month as the online shopping mall operator reported to police that the hacker asked for money, threatening to go public with the fact that Interpark's data was stolen.

Police said they are focusing on tracking the Internet Protocol address -- the online equivalent of a street address or phone number -- where the hacking started.

"We have no excuse for failing to protect our customers' information," Interpark said. "We will closely cooperate with the related bodies to arrest the suspect and prevent the distribution of the leaked information." (Yonhap)