Hundreds of Thousands of Residents’ Information Exposed in Japanese City

Remember when an Apple employee accidentally left a prototype iPhone in a Silicon Valley bar about a decade ago? Now, imagine that scenario, but instead, the employee leaves a thumb drive containing the confidential information of every resident of a large city.

This is what happened in Amagasaki, Japan last month. A contractor for the city, which is located near Osaka, had been working on pandemic subsidy disbursements when he called it a day and packed his bag, including the thumb drive.
Instead of heading straight home, the employee decided to stop at the bar.

A matter of hours later, the unidentified contractor woke up outside in the street to find his bag missing.

According to the city of Amagasaki, the USB stick was encrypted. Thankfully, the bag and stick were eventually found in the area, with little possibility that anyone attempted to access the information.

This is just another story that proves how important it is to have a policy in place for what employees can and shouldn't take out of the office.