• A man in Amagasaki, Japan, loses 500,000 people’s personal data after a night out with coworkers.
• Unidentified individual put the memory stick in his luggage before going out to drink.
• He passed out on the street and turned around to find it missing.

Drinks after work are a popular way for many people to unwind after a hectic week.

However, one employee in Japan might be suffering from a lengthy hangover as a result of losing a USB memory stick after a night out with coworkers.

Why? It included around 500,000 people’s personal information.

Before going out to drink in Amagasaki, a city northwest of Osaka, the unidentified man put the memory stick in his luggage.

According to local media, he consumed alcohol in a nearby restaurant for a number of hours before eventually passing out on the street.

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He soon turned back and saw that the memory stick and his bag were gone.

The individual, who is reportedly in his 40s, is employed by a business that deals with giving incentives to households exempt from paying taxes, according to the Japanese network NHK.

On Tuesday night, before joining colleagues for a night out, he had put the personal data of every person in the city onto the drive.

According to local officials, the memory stick contained every city resident’s name, birthdate, and address. More private information was also provided, such as tax information, bank account numbers, and details on families receiving social security.

Fortunately for the individual, according to city officials, the data stored on the device is encrypted and password-locked. They said that there hasn’t been any indication that someone has tried to access the data yet.

The mayor of the city and other dignitaries bowed in apologies to the citizens after the embarrassing occurrence, though.

An Amagasaki city official said at a press conference, “We greatly apologise that we have seriously damaged the public’s trust in the administration of the city.”

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