Yakult Honsha Confirms Leak of About 40,000 Personal Records

Yakult Honsha announced on October 30 that its website was hit by unauthorized third-party access, leaking personal information of about 40,000 people, including users of its inquiry forms. The company said it will publish details such as the exact number of affected records and the period involved in due course.

What was exposed

For the general inquiry form, the leaked data covers names, gender, age bracket, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and the content of inquiries.

Members of "Tanoshii Kyushoku," a membership site that offers school-lunch recipes to dietitians, had their names, type of business, workplace, department or contractor, workplace address and phone number, and email address exposed. Encrypted registration passwords were also taken, along with optional answers on how they found the site, products of interest and reasons for registering.

Users of the press inquiry form had their names, occupations, media type, outlet name, company or organization, company address, phone number, email address and inquiry content leaked, plus optional department and job title. In both the general and press forms, the names of Yakult employees who handled inquiries were also exposed.

Response so far

On October 26, Yakult suspended website functions to prevent further damage and announced the incident at 7 p.m. that day. As of October 30 the site remains under maintenance, and the company has not said when it will return.

Yakult has submitted a preliminary report to Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission and has consulted the police.

People who have used these forms may receive phishing emails or calls that reference their inquiries or workplaces, so caution with unsolicited messages is advisable. Further disclosures from the company are expected as the investigation proceeds.