A succession of information leaks at Japanese companies has continued, and the cumulative number of affected individuals since July is estimated to have exceeded 160 million. The leaked data includes extremely sensitive personal information, such as driver's license and credit card details, in addition to addresses, names and telephone numbers.
This article points out that, behind the succession of information leaks in recent years, the absence of management policies, in addition to the technical capabilities of Japanese companies, is a serious contributing factor. Leaks have occurred across a wide range of industries, including convenience-store operator Lawson, Daiichi Kosho, Sompo Japan, Daiwa Securities and Times Car, and the scale of the damage is expanding.
The scale of the leaks is large, with incidents involving 1 million or 10 million records said to stand out, and estimates indicating that the cumulative number of affected individuals exceeds 160 million. At present, companies generally explain that "no fact of the information being misused has been confirmed," but the leaked data is considered highly likely to be resold or misused later.
This is not a problem that can be solved through technical expertise alone. The article argues that unless management policies concerning the core of the business, such as the scope of customer information collected, the retention period and basic information-management policies, are established, engineers cannot determine how far they should go in implementing countermeasures. Responsible decision-making by management and improvements to the organisation's culture are said to be necessary.