Kyushu Electric Power says an external backup drive containing customer data for up to 10.9 million accounts went missing from an unlocked server-room cabinet. The lost data includes names, service addresses, electricity usage, phone numbers, and retail electricity provider information, but the company says no bank-account or payment-card data was on the drive. The device was last handled after a backup on April 27 and discovered missing on May 26; the company has notified police and Japan’s privacy and industry regulators.
Why it matters: This is a large-scale customer data exposure affecting a major regional utility, so impacted people should watch for impersonation, phishing, or scam calls that use account details to appear legitimate. Organizations handling sensitive customer data should also note the physical-security and backup-handling failures highlighted by the incident.
Bill Toulas
2026.06.11
100% relevant
This article appears to be the first concrete report of Kyushu Electric Power’s missing backup-drive incident and establishes the underlying breach event.
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