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The story
As cyberattacks targeting Japanese government agencies pile up, doubts about the security of the My Number Card (Japan’s national ID card) are spreading. In the source article, Takayuki Sugiura, representative director of the Japan Hacker Association, gives the IC chip a qualified vote of confidence for now, arguing that if chip data were actually being stolen, credit card fraud would already be rampant. The backdrop: starting next April, a revised anti-money-laundering law will require financial institutions to verify identity solely by scanning the IC chip on a My Number Card or driver’s license — and this comes right after news broke of a leak involving driver’s license photo data. The 5ch thread sprawled from there, with posters pointing out that people are conflating the card’s own security with the risk of the linked databases being breached, and others questioning the IT literacy of past cybersecurity ministers.
Takayuki Sugiura, representative director of the general incorporated association “Japan Hacker Association,” also commented:
“If IC chip data were being stolen, credit cards — which can be directly converted into cash — would be hit before the My Number Card. But so far, no such data has been stolen. Even as AI keeps advancing, I think the IC chip will remain safe for the time being.”
As it happens, the revised Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds takes effect next April. The photo-submission method previously used for identity verification, such as when opening a bank account, will be abolished, and financial institutions will be required to scan the IC chip on a My Number Card or driver’s license instead. Even so, this latest leak of driver’s license photo data is bound to leave users deeply uneasy.
Source: dailyshincho.jp / Original article here
What people said
Bashing My Number to sabotage Japan.
This article is exactly that.
Isn't it about making the My Number Card mandatory?
The ones who benefit most from this uproar are probably the Digital Agency, since they want to push the card anyway.
It's 100% safe — because it's entirely your own responsibility. The government takes zero blame, so it's 100% safe.
Japan Hacker Association
https://www.hacker.or.jp
Re: #17
Make it more secure.
Who withdrew how much and when will get leaked too — here comes Kanekane Kinko (a money-obsessed bandit character from kids' anime, used here as slang for greedy scammers).
Convert it all into cash and take it out of the bank. Then you can relax.
Banks are fine. It's night and day compared to brokerages.
The guy who got rid of hanko stamps and pushed the My Number Card was Taro Kono.
Delusions and wishful thinking don't count as sources.
It lets you merge personal data leaked from different companies into a single list.
You're assuming they already have your address, name, and phone number stolen? lol
That's exactly the kind of opening that leads to all sorts of damage. Besides, if you're going to say it doesn't matter even if it's stolen, then there was no point keeping the My Number itself confidential in the first place lol
The government has already revised the law to basically scatter personal data around — medical history, mail-order purchase history, criminal records (including victim records), beliefs/creed, all attached with your name and address.
Back at the start, everyone was making a huge fuss about medical histories and bank balances leaking, right?
Sure, if someone can hack a hospital's or bank's database, they could trace it back through your My Number to get info — but honestly, the moment that database gets hacked, it's already game over regardless.
On October 6, 2026, Digital Minister Toshiharu Furukawa said at a post-cabinet press conference, "Protect your own information yourself."
These are the guys at the top lol. There's no way this is going to be fine lol
That's a legendary Diet answer right there. Japan's cabinet ministers are basically amateurs rotated in on a shift system, so of course it ends up like this.
Wasn't he the one who answered that he at least knew you stick it into a hole? The minister doesn't need to be an expert, but being below the national average is something else.
Even if the My Number Card itself is super secure, the info some website verified using it can still get stolen.
Every little bit adds up, though.
A few years back, when the restaurant industry stopped attracting bottom-rung workers, paper lists of those restaurant workers were being bought and sold. The reason you'd get a call the moment you quit one job was because of those lists.
Up until now it was premised on human-vs-human, but the moment AI capable of responding at superhuman speed showed up, humans already lost.
It's because each service provider's idea of "convenient" is wildly different from everyone else's. Consumers getting hit with all of those, en masse and all at once, can't take it anymore — just look at the flood of umpteen different "Pay" apps and the lack of any standard for self-checkout machines.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The core issue in the article is that the security of the My Number Card itself (the IC chip) and the security of the external databases linked to the card are two separate problems. The expert’s comment addresses the former, but most of the thread’s replies point to the risk of leaks from government and corporate databases — a mismatch that shows up again and again. The fact that identity verification will be unified around IC chip scanning once the revised anti-money-laundering law takes effect next April means the card will be presented far more often going forward, which is itself a factor suggesting a wider blast radius if a leak ever does occur. Meanwhile, some posters raised concerns by citing past cabinet ministers’ lack of IT knowledge, but that doesn’t actually serve as evidence about the technical security of the current system itself — it’s worth noting how easily the two threads of discussion get tangled together.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary of the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “Cyberattacks on Japanese institutions are increasing, and people are starting to ask questions: “Is My Number Card information really safe?”“
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