Japan KDDI: Lost Disk With Info On Over 200,000 Subscribers"

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- KDDI said Thursday it lost a magneto-optical disk containing personal information on 224,183 subscribers, but said it was unlikely that data had been leaked to a third-party.

Japan's second-largest cellphone carrier by subscribers said it discovered the disk was missing from its technical center in Tochigi, a prefecture north of Tokyo. The disk contains names and addresses of customers who canceled their "au" cellphone services with KDDI and its unit Okinawa Cellular Telephone.

The company said strict controls at the center and the log of people entering and leaving lead it to believe the disk was likely thrown away by mistake.

The information went missing as KDDI has been trying to strengthen its internal controls to regain public trust after a leak last June of personal data on some 4 million of KDDI's Internet service customers.

-By Hiroyuki Kachi, Dow Jones Newswires, 813-5255-2929, hiroyuki.kachi@dowjones.com

-Edited by Rob Robison

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 8th February 2007