AMAGASAKI, Hyogo Pref.: Two USB memory sticks containing personal information on all residents of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, have been found after being lost, the city government said Friday.

There have been no traces of the data on the USB sticks, including basic resident register information on some 460,000 residents, such as their names, addresses and birthdays, being compromised, city officials said.

On Thursday, the city said that an employee related to a company commissioned to do work related to household and other benefits had lost the USB sticks.

At a press conference at the city office on Friday, the company apologized for the incident.

The company said the employee in question on Tuesday moved the data to the USB sticks to update data and later dined at a bar in Suita in neighboring Osaka Prefecture while carrying them.

The employee woke up on a street in the small hours of Wednesday and noticed the loss of a bag containing the USB sticks, according to the company.

The bag containing the USB sticks was found outside an apartment building in Suita Friday morning during a search by the employee and Osaka prefectural police officers.

Amagasaki Mayor Kazumi Inamura told a separate press conference that the city will set up an independent committee to investigate the cause of the incident and consider preventive measures.

JIJI Press