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Personal info of 9,500 COVID-19 patients in Fukuoka Prefecture leaked online

18 Comments

Officials from the Fukuoka prefectural government have apologized after the personal data of 9,500 people infected with COVID-19 was leaked online.

The data leak, which included the patients’ full name and health information, affected almost all of the individuals who tested positive for the virus in the prefecture, Fuji TV reported. At press conference on Wednesday, officials revealed that the data leak was caused by a misdirected email.

Since April 2020, the Fukuoka prefectural government has been compiling data on those infected with COVID-19 to assist hospitals with health care coordination. The data base included patients' full name, residential municipality, age, gender and symptoms. These details were stored on a document uploaded to an online file-sharing system.

On Nov 30, the prefectural coronavirus task force accidentally sent an email intended for medical personnel that contained the data's access permission. The data breach was made by typing the wrong email address.

The male recipient of the email contacted the prefectural task force on that same day, which allowed them to revoke his access to the data. However, the countermeasure was ineffective in preventing information leakage since the document could be viewed by typing the URL into a web browser.

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18 Comments
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Should have faxed it

25 ( +26 / -1 )

Should have faxed it

haha...this is a great comment.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

Where's the trombone jingle when you need it?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Japan's security at it's best!!!! At my City hall every computer's login info written on a Post-it and attached to the monitor...

17 ( +17 / -0 )

This is no joke and may cause some suicides. There have already been suicides in Japan due to Covid patients being shunned by their neighbors and companies. In a different country, a lawsuit would be filed.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Welcome to the new Suga Digital society.  your data will be managed by clowns

14 ( +14 / -0 )

Confidentiality is a joke in Japan.

It is gonna hurt for info like getti'g virus since it is sure some will now be avoided like the plague, unfortunately.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

The male recipient of the email contacted the prefectural task force on that same day, which allowed them to revoke his access to the data. However, the countermeasure was ineffective in preventing information leakage since the document could be viewed by typing the URL into a web browser.

Don't quite understand the last paragraph of the article. If it’s a document in a file sharing system and you send a link to it by an email, then either you can revoke the access to that link or not. Wondering what exactly they revoked.

If it’s a publicly accessible file and the only limitation is that you either know or do not know its URL, that's a gross negligence.

Saying that, mistakes do happen and the email sent to a wrong address is not an issue here. The system in place seems to be the real problem and quite likely a desperate lack of IT education for public servants – a systematic issue then and not a failure of an individual.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Should have faxed it

I might have to create a new account so I can like this twice.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

At least two posters living in Fukuoka....

No three now (at times) Saga the rest of time.

And the Japanese leak more than the Iraqi Navy.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

“Misdirected email”. The incompetence is unbelievable.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The Nikkei Stock crashed 48 hours 2 months ago.

And now this.

What's gonna be next?!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Should have faxed it

AHAHAHA! good one!

Personal info of 9,500 COVID-19 patients in Fukuoka Prefecture leaked online

... look for my reaction above, but I'll add: Disaster!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Maybe the info will be used as blackmail.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

These absolute morons! Reminds me of the fools who take top-secret information from major tech companies or military defence on laptops and bring them to an izakaya before getting drunk and forgetting them somewhere.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This means social death for those Covid patients.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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