Power company in Japan fears data breach after losing storage drive containing customer details
Private personal information of nearly 11 million people may have been leaked after a Kyushu power company lost a storage drive earlier this year.
According to Asahi Shimbun, the storage drive was discovered missing on 26 May. The company insists that sensitive financial information was not leaked.
Source: NHK
Drive discovered missing during routine work
On 27 April, a contractor for Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution Co. ported customer details onto an SSD. This was done as part of a routine monthly process to clear up storage space on the company’s servers.
The drive was then stored inside a cabinet in the server room.
A month later, on 26 May, the contractor returned for another task and discovered the drive missing. The drive reportedly contains the personal data of up to 10.9 million customers. This data includes their names, addresses, and other contact details.
The company has insisted that sensitive financial details such as bank account numbers and credit card information were not on the drive.
Company files police report
On 4 June, the company filed a police report suspecting that someone may have removed the drive without permission.
The company’s server room is secured with biometrics, allowing access to only 57 individuals.
However, the cabinet is not secured by a lock, and the drive itself is also not password-protected.
Although they have reviewed security camera footage, the drive has yet to be located. The company also said that there is currently no confirmation that the information has been leaked.
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Featured image adapted from Asahi Shimbun and NHK.Â
