Prefecture
Posted on 12/30/2002 9:01:04 AM PST by Stew Padasso
'Big brother' data for entire town stolen
FUKUSHIMA -- Private information on all 9,600 residents of Iwashiro, Fukushima Prefecture, complete with 11-digit resident registry numbers, has been stolen by a burglar, it was learned Saturday.
Backups containing the sensitive data were one of the items swiped from a car belonged to a private company that the Iwashiro Municipal Government entrusted to manage its controversial resident registry network system.
Masataka Ito, head of an Iwashiro government section in charge of the registry network, tried to play down the magnitude of the problem. "The backups cannot be decoded without specific tools designed for that purpose. So we believe the possibility of the private information leaking to the public is extremely low," Ito said.
Iwashiro Mayor Masao Ouchi, however, could not hide his shock. "I am stunned. We have been prepared against hackers and computer viruses but this was totally unexpected," the mayor said. "We may have to give residents new registry numbers to make sure nothing goes wrong."
On Thursday, an F-Com Co. employee collected the backups, which contained the names, dates of birth, sex, current and previous addresses, and 11-digit resident registry network numbers of the entire Iwashiro population, from the town hall to transfer them to the company headquarters in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
The F-Com official put the backups in a secure metal briefcase, but left it inside the company car while making a stopover at the company's branch in Fukushima.
When he returned to the car at around 6:20 p.m. that day, its windows were shattered and the briefcase, which was labeled "Iwashiro Town," was gone. Backup data for a different municipality also left in the car was not stolen.
The Iwashiro Municipal Government makes backups for its resident registry database about once a month and puts them in a secure briefcase, which is then stored at the F-Com headquarters. Keys to the briefcase are kept at a local government office.
Iwashiro officials had not discussed the method of transporting the data with their F-Com counterparts. (Mainichi Shimbun, Dec. 28, 2002)
Thats why this thread will probably not exceed 10 posts.
On Thursday, an F-Com Co. employee collected the backups, which contained the names, dates of birth, sex, current and previous addresses, and 11-digit resident registry network numbers of the entire Iwashiro population, from the town hall to transfer them to the company headquarters in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. (snip)
When he returned to the car at around 6:20 p.m. that day, its windows were shattered and the briefcase, which was labeled "Iwashiro Town," was gone. Backup data for a different municipality also left in the car was not stolen.
Well now, isn't this special?? There once was a little town called Iwashiro
Which collected information quite farrago
Risibly guarded
Ignominiously froward
Reboantly hariolating, no worries, your data is safe.. OH!
Some places collect way too much data, and I can't believe the amount of people who cheerfully hand it over without thought.
They aren't usually computerized, though. But rest assured that computer records are normally unbreakable and unstealable, like those FBI files that "accidentally" ended up in the DNC database in '92, and the instant-check firearms database that doesn't exist...
In an era of electronic data transfer, why is Japan still using sneakernet techniques for data backup? I thought that was all obsoleted by Y2K.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.