Secret information of Japan's MSDF leaked
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-02-24 09:48

Confidential information at Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) has been leaked onto the Internet via peer-to-peer file-sharing software from a private computer of a MSDF officer, Japan Times reported Friday.

The leaked data include call letters for MSDF vessels, cipher- related documents related to combat exercises and personal data on dozens of MSDF members, the MSDF said on Thursday.

The information was leaked from a personal computer of a chief petty officer in charge of communications on the destroyer Asayuki, which is deployed at the MSDF's Sasebo base in Nagasaki Prefecture, said the English-language newspaper.

The MSDF is investigating why and how the officer, who was not authorized to make copies of the data, inputted the data into his personal computer, which he took onboard the destroyer without permission.

The MSDF said the leak would not affect the MSDF's use of call letters because they are changed daily.