Japan's Government Goofs, Leaks Secret Messages on Google

(Image source:?DesignTaxi)

?

?

BY MATT PICHT

?

?

The Japanese government recently learned a hard lesson about digital security after a privacy misunderstanding with Google Groups leaked more than 6,000 confidential messages.

Japanese newspaper?The Yomiuri Shimbun?reported at least four government agencies and seven medical institutions accidentally left confidential information shared via Google Groups open to public access. Among the leaked data, the paper reportedly found??information on negotiations for an international treaty??and??medical information on more than 300 patients.?

Among the most revealing messages were 66 emails sent by members of Japan?s Environmental Ministry regarding an international mercury trade treaty in January. (Via?The Japan Times)

The ministry said no damaging information was leaked, but it?s taking steps to make sure a similar information breach doesn?t happen again.?ABC?reports the problem stemmed from an incomplete understanding of the Google Groups privacy settings.

?Members can limit access by selecting specific users who can post messages to the group. But default settings automatically set discussions to ?public,? a fact ministry officials overlooked.?

?

As?Gizmodo?notes, not even the paper that caught the scoop was immune to the privacy blunder.

?

?This would be a big hilarious, victorious scoop for The Yomiuri ? except the paper discovered that its own journalists had made the same mistake. By relying on the default privacy settings in Google Groups, the journalists made transcripts of interviews and drafts of unpublished articles available for anybody to read online.?

?

After an emergency meeting, the Japanese government announced it has decided to ban the use of private email and data-sharing services until further review.

Source: http://www.newsy.com/videos/japan-s-government-goofs-leaks-secret-messages-on-google

Katherine Webb Cut for Bieber AJ McCarron ups Aj Mccarron Girlfriend CES 2013 joe budden