By buying alone, you can acquire mountains, water and personal information all at once... Former public security official warns of “what foreign spies target that is more common than convenience stores”

Japan is considered a haven for spies, and concerns have been raised over how technology and information are taken out of the country. Katsumaru Enkaku (勝丸円覚), a former officer in the Foreign Affairs Division of the Public Security Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, said that cases in which small and medium-sized companies without successors are acquired are not uncommon, and that this can become a channel for information leakage.

The article touches on the reality that acquisitions increase the risk of information and technology held within companies leaking outside them, and presents the view that the aim of espionage is to obtain personal information and corporate technology.

This is said to occur because companies without successors are acquired by external capital, exposing cases in which internal controls have weakened and information is handled laxly. The article reports that readers should consider strengthening their own information management systems.