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The story
A report from ITmedia has revealed that unauthorized access occurred on Rakuten Drive, the e-commerce giant’s cloud storage service, potentially exposing data from around 15,000 accounts to viewing or theft. On 5ch, users pointed to the service’s free 50GB tier as the reason many sign up in the first place, while others argued that “no cloud service is truly impenetrable,” citing past celebrity photo leak incidents, and voiced concern about possible knock-on effects for related services like Rakuten Bank. Some speculated that AI might be involved in the cause of the breach, though this remains unconfirmed.
Unauthorized Access to “Rakuten Drive”: Data From 15,000 Accounts Possibly Viewed or Stolen – ITmedia NEWS –
Published: October 6, 2026, 16:16
Author: Hinako Umebayashi [ITmedia]
Source: itmedia.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Secondary damage you can live with, but tertiary could get you socially cancelled.
Free up to 50GB is a big deal.
Then again, none of them are actually impenetrable. Honestly, no matter whose cloud it is, you should only put stuff there that you're fine with strangers seeing. But I guess we're heading into an era where everything gets dumped in the cloud regardless.
Doesn't seem to be just Japan — the "blue team" countries (the defensive cybersecurity side) are getting hit across the board.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014年iCloudからの著名人プライベート写真大量流出事件 (the 2014 celebrity iCloud photo leak incident)
If you work in sales at Rakuten, you pretty much end up using it automatically, right? The scary part of this isn't individuals — it's companies.
Seems like it's happening all over the world.
Even if you cancel your account, the data probably stays with Rakuten anyway, so you're screwed either way. Not funny.
Too strong lmao
You can even go into debt.
You hadn't done that already? lol
Maybe you should consider escaping the Rakuten ecosystem instead.
Why is it only Japanese services that keep getting hit with breaches like this?
They're constantly targeted and breaches do happen, but countermeasures get put in place each time — before one big incident, there are a bunch of near-misses (what's called "hiyari-hatto," or close-call incidents).
Because Japan's security is full of holes.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Rakuten Drive is a cloud storage service operated by Rakuten, and according to ITmedia’s report, this unauthorized access may have exposed data from roughly 15,000 accounts, including stored files. In the thread, when users questioned why anyone would use it when Google Drive and OneDrive already exist, the free 50GB storage tier was cited as the main draw. Some also pointed to the 2014 celebrity iCloud photo leak as a reminder that cloud data has never been completely safe. That said, neither the article nor the thread establishes the cause or method behind the breach, and speculation that “AI might be involved” remains an unsubstantiated opinion at this stage. One point worth flagging for readers: neither source actually explains how this incident might directly affect other Rakuten services like Rakuten Bank — the concerns voiced in the thread are purely user speculation.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “Unauthorized Access to “Rakuten Drive”: Data From 15,000 Accounts Possibly Viewed or Stolen.”
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