A private contractor working for the Japanese city of Amagasaki lost a USB flash drive on Tuesday after a night out drinking. Given the contractor's occupation in collating and extrapolating specific Covid-19 relief funds to individuals in the city, the USB is of immense importance and wields information on an estimated 460,000 Amagasaki residents.
The city itself announced the news come Thursday, highlighting that the contracted employee first notified the police a day later, on Wednesday, June 22. According to the release, the employee lost a bag containing the flash drive following a visit to a restaurant. Luckily, the information on the USB stick is encrypted and password-protected, Amagasaki itself relays, but it's unclear as of yet if the USB has thus far been found since its loss.
"We will thoroughly ensure security management when handling electronic data. We will work to regain our residents' trust by heightening awareness of the importance of protecting personal information," the city of Amagasaki said in a statement on Thursday.
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Much of the information contained within the flash drive was valuable, private resident data, including welfare-receiving households' bank account numbers, full addresses, birth dates, tax data, and much more. The contracted employee, who thus far remains unnamed, was reportedly on his way to transfer said data to an Osaka-based call center following work Tuesday evening.
According to the Osaka Info travel website, Amagasaki is a major "hotspot" for nightlife activity. The site itself relays that "socializing with friends and coworkers over food and drink is the norm," which it attributes to so-called "free-flowing" draft beers and whiskey sodas. The city of Amagasaki added via a city official in a press conference:
"We deeply regret that we have profoundly harmed the public's trust in the administration of the city."
According to Japan Times, the USB stick has since been located. Suita police, alongside the contracted employee in question, located the lost bag containing the USB outside a local apartment building, information expressed via the Osaka Prefectural Police department.
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