The Defense Agency announced Tuesday it will purchase about 56,000 computers for the Self-Defense Forces and the agency as part of emergency measures to stop more work-related data on privately-owned computers from being leaked.
Agency officials said a survey conducted after recent discoveries that government information had been leaked over the Internet shows that about 120,000 privately owned computers had been used by SDF members and agency officials to compile data for their jobs, either at home or at the office. Among them, 80 computers contained the software Winny.
SDF members and agency officials have been using their own computers for work at times because there are not enough computers at their workplaces for everyone, agency officials said earlier.
The agency plans to give about 48,000 computers to the Ground Self-Defense Force, roughly 3,500 to the Maritime Self-Defense Force and roughly 5,000 for the Air Self-Defense Force, the officials said.
The agency will solicit bids for the 32,000 desktop and 24,000 notebook computers Wednesday and wants quick delivery.
The Defense Agency is buying the computers to deal with recent leaks of data, including confidential SDF information, from computers owned by members from all three arms of the SDF. The computers are believed to have been infected by a virus that infects a computer through peer-to-peer data sharing software and causes the information to leak.