Data of 22 Japan Police Forces May Have Leaked in Breach

Personal information belonging to officers and other employees at 22 of Japan’s 47 prefectural police forces may have been exposed in a Japan police data breach linked to a private contractor, National Police Agency officials said on Wednesday (Oct 21).

The possible leak, which affects nearly half of the country’s regional police forces, stems from a recent data breach at Arcadia Inc, a company that provides disaster information services, according to Kyodo News.

What the National Police Agency Said

Officials at the National Police Agency, which oversees Japan’s prefectural forces, said details of officers and other staff at the 22 forces may have been compromised. They did not publicly list every force involved.

The breach may also reach beyond police personnel. Police in four prefectures, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Shimane and Yamaguchi, had registered local residents’ email addresses with the Arcadia service for security purposes, according to the reports.

Anadolu Agency, citing the Kyodo report, said the full extent of the breach and the number of people affected were not immediately disclosed.

Japan Police Data Breach Part of Wider Trend

The incident comes amid a string of similar data leaks at Japanese companies across a range of industries. In a separate case, Recruit Co said it had found a possible leak of personal information involving 3.7 million accounts on its Carsensor used-car information service.

A survey released on Monday (Oct 19) found that about 30.2 per cent of large Japanese companies may have suffered data leaks at some point, whether through cyberattacks or human error, Anadolu reported.

The scale of the police-related exposure is likely to draw scrutiny because it involves the personal details of people working in law enforcement, as well as members of the public who signed up for safety alerts.

What Remains Unclear

Authorities have not said when the breach at Arcadia took place or how it was carried out, and the reports did not state whether it was caused by a cyberattack. It is also not yet known exactly what categories of personal data were involved.

The National Police Agency is expected to release further details as the affected forces assess the impact on their staff and on residents registered with the service.

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