Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

The operator of the car-sharing service “Times Car” suffered unauthorized access to its systems, leaking roughly 6.6 million pieces of personal information. Of these, 1.6 million included identity-verification materials such as driver’s license images. After a lawyer representing the victims opened a registration site for a planned class action on September 30, more than 10,000 people had signed up by October 2. On 5ch, threads mixed criticism of the company’s lax crisis management, a cynical view that only the lawyers stand to profit from the lawsuit, and comments pointing out the limits of using a driver’s license for identity verification.

Regarding the issue in which the car-sharing service “Times Car” had its systems breached and driver’s license images and other data leaked, it has been learned that more than 10,000 people have registered on a site set up by a lawyer in preparation for a class-action lawsuit.

The issue stems from unauthorized access to the systems of “Times Car,” a car-sharing service operated by a subsidiary of Park24, which resulted in roughly 6.6 million pieces of personal information leaking outside the company. Of these, 1.6 million included identity-verification materials such as driver’s license images.

In response, a Tokyo-based lawyer opened a registration site on September 30 in preparation for a class-action lawsuit seeking damages from the operating company. By October 2, more than 10,000 members whose information was leaked had registered, indicating their intent to join.

Source: news.web.nhk / Original article here

※This article is composed of excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Times Car license-image leak: Over 10,000 register for class-action lawsuit.”

It has come to light that the launch of the “next-generation My Number Card,” which the Digital Agency has been pursuing, will be delayed again — from the originally planned rollout within this fiscal year to fiscal year 2029. Digital Minister Toshiharu Furukawa, who took office in September, told reporters on October 2 that the agency would “strengthen security and make the card more user-friendly.” Behind the delay is also the fact that “RSA2048,” the encryption scheme used in the current card’s digital certificate, will no longer meet security standards after January 2031 due to advances in technology. On 5ch, the discussion split between gripes about the hassle of renewal procedures and technical explanations of how the encryption algorithm works.

The Digital Agency is aiming to roll out the “next-generation My Number Card,” with improved security and convenience, sometime during fiscal year 2029. It was originally scheduled for rollout within this fiscal year, but the launch has been repeatedly delayed due to system-related issues. Digital Minister Toshiharu Furukawa, who took office in September, told reporters on the 2nd that the agency would “strengthen security and make it more user-friendly.”

◆ The next-gen card plans to migrate to a more robust encryption scheme

The purpose of the next-generation card is to ensure the card’s security keeps pace with technological progress while also improving convenience. In addition, according to the final report issued in March 2024 by the expert panel “Next-Generation Individual Number Card Task Force,” there is an issue with the algorithm (computational procedure) used to encrypt the data in the current card’s digital certificate, meaning it will become unusable after January 2031. The report states that once the next-generation card is introduced, the agency “will consider ways to promote a swift transition to the new card.”

Source: tokyo-np.co.jp / Original article here

※This article is composed of excerpts and summaries from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “Digital Minister Furukawa Toshiharu: Reason for “Next-Gen My Number Card” rollout delay is “there were no vendors”.”