Line Operator Gets Administrative Guidance Again

Jiji Press

17:39 JST, April 17, 2024

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on Tuesday issued a fresh administrative guidance to LY Corp., operator of the Line messaging app and Yahoo! Japan internet portal, over breaches of personal information.

The ministry concluded that a report on preventive measures submitted by LY earlier this month was insufficient and instructed it to reconsider them.

The company is required to submit another report by July 1.  Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said he hopes that LY will take the incident seriously and take thorough preventive measures.

About 520,000 records of personal information of Line users, clients and employees were breached last autumn due to unauthorized access to a server of Naver Corp., a South Korean technology firm with which LY has capital ties.

In the previous administrative guidance issued last month, the ministry said LY relied heavily on Naver, such as by outsourcing the maintenance and operation of its information technology infrastructure to the South Korean company.

In its report submitted to the ministry on April 1, LY said it would complete the separation of its computer system from Naver’s by December 2026 and that it had requested a review of its capital ties with Naver. At the time, Matsumoto said the ministry would scrutinize the report and take additional steps if necessary.