However, one worker in Japan may be suffering from a long hangover after misplacing a USB memory stick after a night out with colleagues.
After-work drinks are a common way for many people to unwind after a long week.
Why? It contained the personal information of nearly 500,000 people.
Before an evening of drinking in Amagasaki, northwest of Osaka, the unidentified man placed the memory stick in his bag.
According to local media, he spent several hours drinking in a local restaurant before passing out on the street.
When he finally turned around, he discovered that both his bag and the memory stick had vanished.
According to NHK, the man, who is said to be in his 40s, works for a company that provides benefits to tax-exempt households.
On Tuesday evening, he transferred the personal information of the entire city’s residents onto the drive before meeting colleagues for a night on the town.
According to city officials, the memory stick contained the names, birth dates, and addresses of all city residents. It also contained more sensitive information, such as tax information, bank account numbers, and information on families receiving social security benefits.
Fortunately for the man, city officials stated that the data on the drive is encrypted and password-protected. They also stated that there has been no evidence of anyone attempting to access the information thus far.
However, the embarrassing incident prompted an official apology, with the city’s mayor and other leaders apologizing to residents.
“We deeply regret that we have profoundly harmed the public’s trust in municipal administration,” an Amagasaki city official said at a press conference.
