Wave of Cyberattacks Sparks Talk of Class-Action Suits — License Leak Compensation Seen at ¥10,000–50,000, ¥50,000–100,000 If Secondary Damage Occurs

From our other sites

The story

Following a string of personal data leaks from repeated cyberattacks, victims are increasingly considering class-action lawsuits. According to a lawyer’s analysis, compensation for leaks limited to information like driver’s license details would run around ¥10,000–50,000, while cases where secondary damage such as fraudulent use actually occurs could see payouts of ¥50,000–100,000. On 5ch, posters reported a wave of breach notifications from Times Car (a car-sharing service) and JR East’s “eki-net” ticketing service, sharing the specific details of what information had leaked. Meanwhile, skepticism ran through the thread about how meaningful the compensation really is — comments like “they’ll probably just fob us off with a ¥300 QUO card” — alongside a pessimistic camp saying “proving damages is hard, so lawsuits are a long shot” and a more hardline camp insisting “they should fight this all the way.”

Wave of cyberattacks sparks talk of class-action suits — companies’ compensation seen at “¥10,000–50,000 for leaked license info,” “¥50,000–100,000 if personal info is misused and secondary damage occurs” — lawyer explains

Kansai TV

Please see the source for the full article

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:53
The damages are probably piling up so high they can't actually pay it all out — this'll just get swept under the rug.
63AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:24
Re: #2
Nothing's going to change unless the business world actually gets punished.
Some companies have been handling personal data while running security that hasn't been updated in 20 years.
Japanese people are too docile, so companies completely walk all over us.
4AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:53
¥300 (a QUO card)
6AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:54
Re: #4
Shipping would cost more than that.
129AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:26
Re: #4
1,500 points (in their own in-house service points)
8AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:55
If there were real money in it, lawyers would already be swarming this — like they did with the overpaid consumer-loan interest refunds (the "kure-sara kabarai" boom).
51AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:16
Re: #8
They're citing an actual going rate, so there's probably real money in it.
15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:59
Got an email from Times Car.
Here's the gist of it:

List of customer information confirmed leaked in this incident:

– Name
– Department (for corporate members)
– Address
– Date of birth
– Phone number
– Email address
– Driver's license info (photo of the license)

That's about everything that leaked.
48AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:14
Re: #15
I use it for both work and personal stuff, so I got the full combo. Should I be worried?
50AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:16
Re: #48
Got an email like this today:

Thank you for using eki-net.

Following unauthorized access that occurred at IDC Frontier, it has come to light that your email address may have leaked.
No leak has been confirmed at this time, but the possibility that it was viewed or obtained cannot be completely ruled out.

We deeply apologize for the serious concern this has caused you.

■Personal information that may have leaked
– Email address
*There is no possibility that your name, address, phone number, credit card number, etc. were leaked.

Once again, we sincerely apologize for the concern this has caused you.
56AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:20
Re: #48
That's just rage-baiting for replies.

[BREAKING] Sompo Japan may have leaked info on 60,000 customers ★2 [Flea Market★]
https://asahi.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/newsplus/1791368369/130
130 Name: Anonymous Donburako [] Posted: 2026/10/07 (Wed) 19:53:48.63 ID:yVO+K1dN0 [1/30]
I got an email from Times Car too.
The personal info of mine that leaked was:
– Name
– Company name
– Department
– Home address
– Date of birth
– Phone number
– Email address
– Driver's license info

That's about it.

"Is it the public's fault?" — Digital Minister Furukawa's remark "protect your own information yourself" stirs controversy… distrust mounts over the government's data defenses [Taru-fun★]
https://asahi.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/newsplus/1791383025/798
798 Name: Anonymous Donburako [] Posted: 2026/10/08 (Thu) 01:03:29.03 ID:xjD0GP4N0 [1/4]
I got an email from Times Car too.
The personal info of mine that leaked was:
– Name
– Company name
– Department
– Home address
– Date of birth
– Phone number
– Email address
– Driver's license info

That's about it.
26AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:03
So many companies across so many industries have been hit
that this is probably just going to get quietly dropped lol.
141AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:42
Re: #26
If you can't pin down exactly where the leaked data ended up, prosecuting is going to be tough.
143AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:47
Re: #141
That's not true.
146AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:50
Re: #141
That's just a weak excuse.
Fight it all the way.
Justice wins in the end.
29AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:03
So joining the class action costs around ¥3,000 (probably), and you'd get back ¥5,000–10,000.
Tough call whether it's worth joining…
142AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:43
Re: #29
And then the lawsuit participant list leaks too.
44AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:12
Class-action lawsuits are a citizen's right.
We're at the point where it wouldn't be weird to see ads for it.
The government moves too slowly and isn't looking at this from the public's perspective.
45AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:12
Back in the Showa era, your name, address, and phone number were printed in the phone book and handed out to the entire country.
So it's a bit late to make a fuss about that stuff leaking now, isn't it?
47AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:14
Re: #45
Says the kid who's never had a landline lol.
80AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:33
Your personal info isn't even worth ¥500.
81AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:34
Re: #80
Idiot. It's worth ¥100 trillion per person.
82AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:34
Your face, address, and name leaking means criminals could target you.
¥50,000 for the emotional distress is on the cheap side.
I'd want at least ¥100,000.
91AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:44
Re: #82
Don't hold back.
It's ¥100 trillion per person.
Holding back is exactly why they walk all over us.
Seize every last asset the employees own.
Make their great-great-grandchildren keep paying off what's left.
Go all out.
86AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:40
"Oops, data leaked, my bad lol" and that's the end of it — what's with that?
89AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:43
Re: #86
Go actually rile the victims up into filing a class action.
You can do it.
90AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:44
Times Car: 6 million people × ¥10,000 = ¥60 billion.
That'll bankrupt them!!
94AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:46
Re: #90
They send it to a random 500 people.
Online you see scattered posts saying "I got mine."
But plenty of people didn't get anything.
If they only pay out to people who actually complain, they can get away with spending just ¥10 million lol.
134AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:29
Re: #90
They should just go bankrupt. Nobody needs them anyway.
92AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:45
As a practical matter, is there really no legal penalty for a company that leaks personal data? Isn't that messed up?
96AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:47
Re: #94
That would be fraud.
105AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:58
Re: #96
"Shipment will serve in lieu of an announcement." (a classic sweepstakes disclaimer meaning: if nothing arrives, you simply didn't win — no separate notice gets sent)
166AnonymousOct 10, 2026 17:31
Re: #105
"Compensation will be sent out, and that shipment will serve as the announcement" lol
97AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:48
Once a company's data has already leaked, wouldn't it make more sense for them to just shamelessly go all-in and start selling the data themselves to cover the damages?
101AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:52
Re: #97
That's a violent crime — basically treason against the state.
135AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:29
Flip this around and it really just means

companies shouldn't be collecting personal information so casually in the first place.
But it's always the companies that haven't thought it through that demand the most personal data.
139AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:40
Re: #135
I really wish that mindset would catch on.
They make you fill in fields that have nothing to do with actually using the service.

Background and key points of this story

In recent years, personal data leaks have come to light one after another at multiple companies, including Times Car and JR East’s “eki-net” (stemming from unauthorized access at its outsourcing partner, IDC Frontier). This article introduces the going rate for compensation in such leaks as outlined by a lawyer: roughly ¥10,000–50,000 for leaks of basic information such as driver’s license details, and ¥50,000–100,000 in cases where secondary damage (such as fraudulent use or identity theft) actually occurs. These figures are only rough benchmarks drawn from past class-action settlements and out-of-court agreements — they are not amounts fixed by law. Where opinions split in the thread was over whether this compensation actually carries any real teeth. Because so many companies have been hit on such a large scale, a pessimistic camp argued it would likely “get swept under the rug” or that “proving damages makes lawsuits hard to pull off,” while a more hardline camp insisted companies “should be fought all the way.” There’s also deep-seated frustration over token compensation in the form of QUO cards or points, and readers may easily be misled into assuming real-world payouts will match the lawyer’s benchmark figures — in practice, they often don’t.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “Wave of cyberattacks sparks talk of class-action suits — “¥10,000–50,000 for leaked license info,” “¥50,000–100,000 if secondary damage occurs” — lawyer explains.”

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *