Monami Yui reports that Sanrio Co., the Japanese owner of the Hello Kitty cartoon character, is investigating whether the data of more than 6,000 shareholders has been leaked.
The information may include the names, addresses and phone numbers of as many as 6,249 shareholders who participated in an online rewards program, the Tokyo-based retail and licensing company said in a statement Wednesday.
Read more on Bloomberg News.
In a statement issued on April 8, Sanrio disclosed that the leak also contains shareholders’ dates of birth, gender, and e-mail addresses. The firm notes that since Sanrio Shareholders Points Club passwords are encrypted, they have not been leaked.
Sanrio states that at 7:47 a.m. on April 7 (Tuesday), the firm was informed that “an email advertising an investment scheme was sent to the address of a shareholder registered only with the Sanrio Shareholders Points Club.” The firm
immediately launched an investigation. As the same e-mail was sent to several employee shareholders registered with this service as well, the Company concluded that information may have been leaked and asked INV Inc. to investigate.
So was the web site for the rewards points club hacked or did an insider leak or sell the information? We’ll have to wait for the results of the investigation.