Japan’s Foreign Ministry Reports Data Breach Affecting 3,600 Records

Istanbul (ANTARA) - Japan’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that unauthorised access to its systems may have put around 3,600 records containing personal information, including names and email addresses, at risk.

According to the Nikkei newspaper, about 900 of the affected records belonged to people outside the ministry.

The ministry detected the security breach on Wednesday and immediately took steps to block further access and revoke authentication credentials.

An investigation found that personal information may have been leaked to third parties, although officials believe no highly classified data was affected.

Passport systems and travel advisory services were not affected by the incident.

The ministry pledged to strengthen its cyber security measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Separately, All Nippon Airways (ANA) said on Friday that personal data, including passport numbers, belonging to around 37,800 customers had been leaked after unauthorised access to a contractor’s passenger services system, according to Kyodo News.

Ryohin Keikaku, operator of the Muji retail chain, also disclosed that up to 27.26 million customer records may have been exposed through unauthorised access to its official app. However, the company said names and credit card information were not affected.

The incidents come amid a growing number of cyber security breaches affecting companies in Japan.

According to data compiled from reports to Japan’s government Personal Information Protection Commission, as reported by The Japan News on Friday, personal information belonging to around 260 million people was affected between April and mid-October.