In late May, the Japan Pension Service revealed unauthorized access to its system had resulted in leaks of personal data.

According to a government announcement in early June, over 1.2 million records may have been leaked. The hackers probably gained access via a virus attached to an e-mail. The organization set up a special telephone service to answer inquiries. It is also warning people to be alert for signs of fraud. Media reports say the incident could affect the future of the My Number system. The system is due to be introduced for the management of social welfare and tax procedures. Each user is assigned a unique number, which may be linked to sensitive information such as bank and medical records.

Illegal access and cyber-attacks have rapidly increased in frequency in recent years. Many people are concerned about the security of the important personal information held by government systems.

5月末、日本年金機構は、同機構のシステムへの不正アクセスにより個人情報が流出したことを明らかにしました。

6月初旬の政府の発表によると、120万件を超える情報が流出した可能性があります。ハッカーらは、電子メールに添付されたウイルスを介してシステムに侵入したようです。同機構は、専用電話サービスを開設して問い合わせに答えるとともに、詐欺の兆候に注意するよう国民に呼び掛けています。報道によると、今回の事件により、マイナンバー制度の先行きにも影響が出そうです。同制度は、社会福祉や税務手続きの管理のために導入が予定されています。利用者ひとりひとりに固有の番号が割り当てられ、銀行や医療記録など取扱いに厳重な注意を要する情報がその番号と結び付けられる可能性があります。

近年、不正アクセスやサイバー攻撃の発生頻度が急速に増加しており、政府のシステムが保有する重要な個人情報の安全対策に不安を抱く人も多く見られます。

Listening Quiz

1. Complete the sentence: The cyber-thieves probably gained access ( ).

• ausing an infected e-mail
• bvia the My Number system
• cvia a special telephone line

2. As used in paragraph two, the word “assigned” most nearly means:

• aoffered
• ballocated
• caccessed

3. It can be inferred from the information in the article that:

• aIt is unlikely the thieves accessed sensitive information such as bank accounts.
• bThe thieves were able to enter the system quite easily using an infected e-mail.
• cThe organization will use landline telephones instead of the Internet for its services from now on.

4. Following the leak, over 1.2 million pension system users were sent infected e-mails that tried to steal their personal information.

• aTRUE
• bFALSE
• cN/A (not applicable)