http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070109TDY01004.htm The Yomiuri Shimbun Jan. 9, 2007 Members of the Ground Self-Defense Force have inadvertently allowed information to be exposed in 27 cases via the Winny file-sharing program installed on their personal computers between fiscal 2002 and the end of October, sources close the GSDF said Monday. In addition to the 27 cases, four other cases have previously been brought to light. The Defense Agency has not released information about any of the data breaches, including what had been disclosed, the sources said. In four cases, information was exposed after the agency announced measures in April to prevent further incidents. The information leaks have brought to light lax informational security controls on information the agency had put in place, despite the fact it was to be upgraded to a ministry Tuesday. According to the sources, GSDF members were involved in security breaches related to Winny once in fiscal 2002, three times in fiscal 2003 and another three times in fiscal 2004, but the number of incidents jumped to 20 in fiscal 2005. In fiscal 2006, four such security breaches have been confirmed, the sources said. The information leaks did not include classified documents, but in eight cases, documents, including training data containing sensitive information capable of impeding the execution of plans were disclosed. Furthermore, data on general operations and personal information, such as lists of GSDF members and related organizations that were compiled and used by individual members, as well as photos were exposed. Following the February revelation of information leaks on Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers, the agency immediately procured about 56,000 computers for use by SDF members and prohibited members from using their own computers to handle SDF data. An agency official said the agency's revelation that information had been exposed could result in more people searching for--and perhaps finding--compromised materials on the Internet, heightening the danger such information could be found and maliciously used. _____________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/mailman/listinfo/isn
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Wed Jan 10 2007 - 22:39:49 PST