The massive data leak of private information on millions of Benesse Holdings customers has highlighted Japanese firms' inadequate security measures, revealing just how easily data can be taken outside of an organization by employees.
The huge amount of data leaked — which could affect as many as 20.7 million customers — points to a special need for firms to beef up their safeguards for confidential information.
"Nowadays, the size of data has grown considerably compared to a decade ago, and firms have to protect themselves from the inside, as well as from outside threats such as cyberattacks," said Nobuhiko Tayama, director of Tokyo-based Global Security Experts, a consulting and solution-providing firm of information security and risk management. "I think Benesse had faults to the extent that it couldn't protect itself in terms of management of data from the inside.