Japanese city contractor goes out for drinks, loses USD containing personal data of 4.6 lakh residents

By Team Newsable | First Published Jun 24, 2022, 6:40 PM IST

In a startling event, a private contractor in the Japanese city of Amagasaki unwittingly exposed the personal data of all 460,000 people. According to Japanese media, the confidential material was stored on a USB memory stick that the contractor was carrying while out on the town. The night out, however, turned into a nightmare when the contractor misplaced the USB while inebriated. The contractor's identity has not been revealed by officials in the western Japanese city.

According to the media reports, the worker in question was temporarily engaged for a municipal pandemic assistance programme. Tuesday evening, while out for drinks after work, the individual misplaced the bag holding the USB. After drinking at the resturant, he realised on his way home that the bag containing the drive was missing, along with the personal details of all 460,000 Amagasaki residents. He reported the loss to police the following morning.

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"We really apologise that we have seriously hurt the public's faith in the municipal government," an Amagasaki official told the press. According to reports, the personal information of the city's citizens was put onto a USB memory stick and delivered to a contact centre in neighbouring Osaka.

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The USB contains information such as the names, genders, residences, birthdays, and other personal details of all city inhabitants. According to city officials, the USB also contained tax information and bank account information for certain residents. Amagasaki, western Japan, officials claimed the person was hired to administer Covid-19 compensation payments to local home near Osaka.

However, in what is considered as a big relief, the city stated that the data on the memory device was encrypted and password-protected. According to officials, no one appears to have accessed the material thus far. The event has been reported to the authorities, and an investigation to locate the device is underway.

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