Apology and Notice Regarding the Potential Leakage of Email Addresses Due to Unauthorized Access at Our Email Distribution Service Provider
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—which is primarily used for information sharing among member organizations and companies, as well as for registration for seminars and other events—has been compromised, and we have received a report that the email addresses of users of this service may have been leaked to outside parties.
This incident stems from unauthorized access that occurred at the contractor providing the email distribution service and is not the result of unauthorized access to the PRAISE-NET system itself.
We deeply apologize to all users and stakeholders for the significant concern and inconvenience this has caused
. * About PRAISE-NET:
This system primarily provides various services—including a database of pharmaceutical regulatory notices, member-specific information, committee information, seminar registration, and surveys—to member organizations and companies.
Request to Users
In connection with this matter, there is a risk that suspicious communications or phishing emails may be sent to the email addresses you have registered. If you receive a suspicious email that you do not recognize, please do not access any URLs in the email body, open any attachments, or contact any phone numbers listed in the email. Instead, please delete the email immediately.
Please note that neither PRAISE-NET nor the four operating organizations will ever ask you to enter your password or other personal information via email. Please also be wary of emails purporting to be notifications from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare or other government agencies; please verify the content of any notifications on official sources, such as the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s website
.
We would like to inform you of the details currently known and our future response as follows.
1. Background
On October 19, 2026, we received a report from Ymir Link Co., Ltd. stating that unauthorized external access had occurred on some of the servers for “Cuenote FC,” the email distribution service provided by the company. At that time, we were informed that the email distribution environment used by PRAISE-NET was not affected by this unauthorized access.
Reference: Yumir Link Co., Ltd. Public Announcement (October 19, 2026)
Subsequently, on October 26, 2026, we received a report from Yumirink stating that, based on the results of a further investigation, there is a possibility that user email addresses were leaked externally from the email delivery environment used by PRAISE-NET as well.
Reference: Yumir Link Co., Ltd. Timely Disclosure Materials (October 26, 2026)
2. Information That May Have Been Leaked
30,750 email addresses registered with the PRAISE-NET email distribution service (as of October 29, 2026).Please note that no information other than email addresses is registered with this email distribution service, and it does not contain any PRAISE-NET ID information (company name, full name, department, address, phone number, or password).
3. Current Measures
Upon receiving a report from Yumir Link on October 26, we promptly suspended the mass email distribution service operated by Yumir Link.(Since no other emails from PRAISE-NET are sent via Yumir Link, those have not been suspended.) Subsequently, we reported the incident to the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and sent a special notification regarding this matter to the registered email addresses of users whose email addresses may have been compromised.
Going forward, we will consider measures to prevent a recurrence, including the management of our subcontractors. We will provide an update regarding the resumption of bulk email distribution by Yumir Link once we have confirmed that it is safe to do so.
Please note that even during the suspension of regular email distribution, you can still view administrative notices and other information in the “Latest Week” or “New Information Up to Yesterday” sections of the “Pharmaceutical Administrative Notice Database” on PRAISE-NET.
If new facts come to light as a result of our ongoing investigation, we will notify you promptly.
For further information, please contact:
+81 3 3241 0374
https://en.jpma.or.jp/
PRAISE-NET Operating Entity (Kansai Pharmaceutical Association)
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