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Employee loses USB stick with data of 500,000 citizens after a night out


The man spent hours in a Japanese restaurant (genre image). ©  AFP

A Japanese employee of a company that works with citizen data has had a very painful night out. The man was out in Amagasaki, north-west of Osaka, and lost a USB stick containing the private data of all residents of the city.

jdgBron: BBC

Today at 09:32–

A Japanese man experienced last Tuesday that ‘the cloud’ has many advantages for storing data. Just before a night out, the forty-something copied all the data of the 500,000 inhabitants onto a USB stick, put the thing in a bag and went out for a walk. The man spent an evening in a restaurant, where he drank alcohol for hours, according to local media, and was eventually found unconscious on the street.

After the wild evening, his bag with USB stick appeared to have disappeared. The forty-something works for a company that helps families who are struggling. According to a city spokesperson, all names, dates of birth and addresses of all residents had been copied onto the USB stick. But also more sensitive information such as details about taxes, account numbers and information about social benefits of family members. Allegedly, all data is encrypted and closed with a password. The city apologized to all residents for the data breach.

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