Niconico Rental Car Ends Driver's License Image Uploads

No leak confirmed

Rentas said it has put the necessary security measures in place and that, as of October 27, it had found no leak of personal information. The company did not describe any specific incident behind the decision.

Older versions of Nicopass, version 2.56.0 and earlier, may still show the license registration screen. According to the company, even if a "registration complete" message appears there, the image data is not saved.

Part of a wider shift

The decision follows a major breach at the car-sharing service Times Car. Unauthorized access in September exposed identity document images tied to about 1.6 million accounts, according to the information provided. Times Car operator Park24 had announced that it would delete all the images it holds by the end of October.

For consumers, the change trades some convenience for lower risk. Storing license photos in an app speeds up counter procedures, but it also creates a database that attackers can target. By keeping no images at all, Niconico Rental Car removes that exposure, at the cost of a slightly longer check-in at the store.

Other rental operators are also dealing with security problems: a separate unauthorized access case at Nippon Rent-A-Car has been reported, involving license numbers and partial card digits of a small number of people.