8/5/2021
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
President: Norio Nakajima
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter the Company) confirmed on July 20, 2021, that an employee of a subcontractor (IBM Dalian Global Delivery Co., Ltd., hereinafter “subcontractor”) of an external contractor (contractor: IBM Japan, Ltd.) downloaded project management data including business partner information and personal information of the Company to a business PC without authorization and uploaded the data to a personal account on an external cloud service in China.
An investigation by the contractor has found no fact of anyone other than said employee of the subcontractor having accessed or acquired the information taken off premises, nor any fact that the information was misused. In addition, the Company has received a report that an investigation by the cloud service provider also confirmed that there is no fact of a third party having copied or downloaded the information taken off premises. Nevertheless, in light of the wide range of the data and the fact that it contains business partner information and personal information, the Company has decided to make this announcement.
We deeply apologize for any inconvenience and worry this may have caused to our customers and the many other parties concerned.
1. Overview
An employee of the subcontractor involved in the Company’s Accounting System Update Project downloaded project management data, including business partner information and personal information, to a business PC without authorization. It has also been confirmed that the data was uploaded to a personal account on a cloud storage service in China. The uploaded data has already been removed from the business PC and external cloud storage service.
No virus infections or cyberattacks have been identified in this case.
2. Course of events
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June 28: An employee of the subcontractor downloaded project management data to a business PC.
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June 30: The subcontractor’s internal monitoring system detected a security alert.
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July 4: An investigation confirmed the download of project management data including business partner information and personal information by the employee of the subcontractor.
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July 8: During an interview with the employee of the subcontractor, it was found that after the above data download, the data was uploaded to a personal account on an external cloud service. On the same day, the uploaded data was deleted under the supervision of the subcontractor.
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July 20: The external contractor reported to the Company.
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August 3: An investigation by the external cloud service provider confirmed that there are no signs of a third party having copied or downloaded the data.
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August 5: The Company also analyzed and verified the contents of information provided based on the analysis data disclosed successively by the external contractor to identify the scope of impact and confirm risks. The Company issued a press release.
3. Scope
The 72,460 pieces of the information below were included. The information varies by country.
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Business partner information: 30,555
*1 pieces of data (company names, addresses, personal names, telephone numbers, email addresses, and bank accounts)
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Information related to the Company’s employees: 41,905
*2 pieces of data (employee numbers, employer names, personal names, email addresses, and bank accounts)
*1 Countries and regions involved for business partner information: Japan, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, USA, and EU. However, only China and the Philippines are involved with regard to customer information.
*2 Countries and regions involved for information related to the Company’s employees: Japan, China, Philippines, Singapore, USA, and EU
4. Measures to prevent a recurrence and future responses
The Murata Group takes this incident seriously and will investigate the cause so that a similar situation does not occur again. The Group will also strengthen security and thoroughly manage information, including at external contractors.
Murata in Brief
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components & solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world.
For more information, visit Murata's website