[ISN] Police data on 4,400 uploaded via Winny

[InfoSec News]

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060321TDY02008.htm

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Mar. 21, 2006

Ehime prefectural police have announced that confidential personal
information on 4,400 people was included in files accidentally
uploaded to the Internet via Winny file-sharing software.

The investigation data was leaked through the computer of a
42-year-old police inspector of the criminal investigation department
and included information on crime suspects, victims and investigation
informants, as well as statements from suspects.

The announcement was the first by the police on how much data had been
compromised. The police, however, had not publicized details about the
data in an effort to protect the people concerned.

According to the Ehime police, the oldest bit of leaked data dated
back to 1984.

The police began searching for the data on the Internet after they
were notified of the leak on March 5.

After recently obtaining the leaked files, they confirmed the contents
were identical to material the police inspector had transferred from
his personal computer to several compact discs.

The police will apologize to people whose personal information was
leaked and launch a free telephone consultation service concerning the
incident in a few days. The police are requesting that providers and
managers of Internet bulletin boards delete the leaked data if it is
uploaded onto their Web sites.

In a similar case that surfaced earlier this month, Okayama
prefectural police investigation data, including personal information
of about 1,500 crime victims and suspects, was leaked through the
software