Japan Digital Agency reports potential leak of 246,000 personal records

Japan’s Digital Agency has announced a potential leak of personal data belonging to approximately 246,000 individuals following unauthorized access to its servers. The breach occurred through the Government Solution Service (GSS) network, where an intruder exploited a vulnerability in a virtual private network (VPN) device.

The compromised data includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses. The affected individuals consist of approximately 189,000 government employees and related officials, along with 57,000 business operators or individuals involved in government operations. The agency clarified that general public personal information, My Number details, financial account information, and pension numbers were not included in the leak.

The agency detected the suspicious activity in late June via a maintenance account and subsequently disabled the account and blocked external communications from the compromised equipment. While no misuse of the data has been confirmed, the Digital Agency has advised individuals to remain vigilant against phishing attempts, suspicious emails, and SMS messages.