Tokyo Vows Tighter Control After Nuclear Power Plant Data Leak

TERRORWARS

Tokyo (AFP) Jun 23, 2005
Japan's government on Thursday vowed to tighten controls on information at nuclear power plants after confidential data on at least two facilities was inadvertently leaked over the Internet.

"As nuclear plants are important facilities in terms of preventing terrorism ... we want to take thorough measures about information management," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters.

He did not specify what action the government would take.

Hosoda said the government believed the leak did not involve any crucial information on nuclear materials from the Tomari nuclear power plant in northern Japan and the Sendai plant in southern Japan.

Major electrical machinery maker Mitsubishi Electric Corp earlier said confidential data from two nuclear power plants had been leaked over the Internet from a virus-infected computer used by an employee at a group firm.

"There is no doubt that (data) was leaked," a Mitsubishi Electric spokesman said. Mitsubishi Electric apologized for the leakage.

The employee was in charge of nuclear inspections. His computer was infected with a virus that reveals data through the Winny file-sharing software.

"We are deeply sorry ... We are now examining the extent (of the data leakage) and we will take sincere measures after seeing the results," the company said in a statement.

Jiji Press said the leaked data included lists of plant workers' names, detailed inspection results and pictures of inside the plants.

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Security Issues Threaten U.S. Science

Washington (UPI) June 22, 2005
Some restrictive security measures in place to protect the United States from terrorism are having a detrimental effect on the scientific community, as foreign students and researchers are choosing to study elsewhere to avoid potential visa problems, the American Civil Liberties Union reported Tuesday.