back to article Contractor loses entire Japanese city's personal data in USB fail

A Japanese contractor working in the city of Amagasaki, near Osaka, reportedly mislaid a USB drive containing personal data on the metropolis's 460,000 residents. The lock, 17 m wide, having 4 sector gates was designed to protect Amagasaki area with the same elevation of sea level Amagasaki lock in Amagasaki's Nishinomiya …

  1. Sp1z

    Encrypted?

    "Amagasaki officials said the data on the USB stick was encrypted"

    Yes, but ROT13 is technically encryption...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Encrypted?

      They've learned from their mistake and increased security - now using Double-ROT-13

  2. Evil Auditor Silver badge

    Why on earth do people still carry around confidential data on USB sticks?!

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge
      Joke

      For enhanced security, the machine is not connected to any networks....

    2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      Japanese businesses tend to be conservative. It's not unusual to see stacks of paper forms and shift managers hitting them with approval stamps.

      I wouldn't go to a pub with work documents, though.

  3. anderlan

    Knowing it was encrypted I might never have fessed up. I would have scoured the area for weeks then given up. Now if it was difficult to get another copy of the data, I might have been forced to explain why I had to get another copy, and the jig would have been up.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "explain why I had to get another copy"

      Assuming he was actually allowed to transfer it to a USB stock there's no shortage of explanations: a corrupt drive, the dog ate it, the cat peed, a seagull snatched it...

  4. storner

    "SmartTub, like other IoT products, lets users control their appliance from outside the home using an app."

    Why oh why would it be useful to control my Jacuzzi *from outside my home*??? I mean, it's not like I can teleport into the hottub from 200 km/miles away, after setting it to a comfortable temperature.

    1. yetanotheraoc Silver badge

      remote start

      So you can jump in as soon as you arrive home, at the perfect temperature. Or so I imagine. I'm very much a manual controls person myself. There was that *one* time I put in a timer for a bedroom light, but found it annoying so ended up removing it.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: remote start

        Watching the last episode of the Gadget Show, one of the Air Fryers on tests was controlled by an app, FFS!! And I mean *all* of the settings, as far as I could see, no manual controls other than an on/off switch ie a "sleep button". This is a device you really should not be controlling remotely. They didn't specify how the phone talked to the Air Fryer, so I suppose it could be BlueTooth, but I suspect it's a cloud connected server a few 1000 miles away where they can record exactly when and how you use it.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The scenario - you're on a business trip. You check camrras and see your SO sitting in the hot tub. Neither is dressed. So you set the tub to subfreezing. Return from trip to a pair (or more) of popsicles.

      Anon, because this was just as stupid as a transglobally controlled hot tub.

    3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      I just assume that anyone who'd be in the market for a hot tub would be the sort of person who'd want to do that just because they could.

    4. Howard Sway Silver badge

      "outside the home" could also mean putting it in your garden and controlling it with your phone whilst you're in it............. "More bubbles Cutie Pie? Damn, that's the third iPhone I've dropped in it this month!"

      If the temperature goes high enough, you could also brew beer in it whilst you're out.

    5. Giles C Silver badge

      Must be for the same people who want an app controller pressure washer.

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