Seiko says ransomware attack led to leak of 60,000 ‘items’ of personal data

Japanese watchmaker Seiko announced on Wednesday that a ransomware incident initially reported this summer resulted in the breach of about 60,000 pieces of personal data from customers, employees, business partners and job applicants.

The company said it had completed a comprehensive review of the breach with outside cybersecurity experts. The leaked data had been stored by the business units known as Seiko Group Corporation (SGC), Seiko Watch Corporation (SWC) and Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII).

“We have begun reaching out to each of the affected parties individually, and if any further leaks are discovered, we will, to the best of our ability, continue to respond to each affected party on an individual basis,” Seiko said.

In August the Black Cat cybercrime group, also known as AlphV, took credit for the incident and soon afterward Seiko confirmed that it was a ransomware attack.

Seiko did not specify what it meant by “items” of personal data, but said information falls into these categories:

• Customer information from SWC, “including names, addresses, telephone numbers, and/or email addresses.” But “credit card information was not compromised.”
• Contact information for “counterparties involved in business transactions with SGC, SWC, and/or SII.” That data included “name, company affiliation, job title, company address, company phone number, and/or company email address.”
• Job applicant information from people seeking “employment with SGC and/or SWC, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and/or educational background information.” Information about current and former employees of SGC, including “names and/or email addresses.”

Seiko said it is continuing to review the ransomware attack while shoring up its policies and systems “to prevent any recurrence of this type of incident.”

Another Japanese company with a large watchmaking business, Casio, said last week that one of its software subsidiaries had a data breach earlier in October.