Yasukuni Shrine data breach
Yasukuni Shrine announced a data breach on Nov 11, 2026 involving up to 14,500 records (duplicates possible), exposing names, email addresses and passwords. It was caused by a cyberattack. No settlement or compensation has been announced.
Was I affected?
People registered on Yasukuni Shrine's online amulet and goods site (about 14,500 records); the shrine is emailing those affected from ec-info@yasukuni.jp.
| Announced | Nov 11, 2026 |
|---|---|
| When it happened | Unauthorized access found October 28, 2026 |
| Country | Japan |
| Records exposed (may include duplicates) | 14,500 |
| Data exposed | Names, Email addresses and Passwords |
| Status | Confirmed by the company or a regulator filing |
What happened
Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo said on November 11, 2026 that its online shop for amulets and other items was accessed without authorization, which it learned on October 28 and took the site offline that day. Names, email addresses, hashed account passwords with the data used to generate them, and account registration details of about 14,500 registered users leaked; the count may change. Card numbers were handled by a payment provider and were not found in the leaked data.
What should I do?
- Change the password on any other site where you used the same password as the Yasukuni online shop.
- Be wary of emails, texts and calls claiming to be from Yasukuni Shrine; it says it will never ask for passwords, card or bank account numbers.
- Turn on two-factor authentication for your email account and other important services.
How Korea fines a breach this size
For comparison, Korea's privacy regulator fined Tiffany Korea ₩2.4 billion (about US$1.6M) in February 2026 over a breach of 4,600 people. Korean law fines the security failure itself, not only misuse of the data.
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Sources
- 靖國神社オンライン授与品・頒布品サイトへの不正アクセスによる個人情報漏洩のお詫びとお知らせ (Apology and notice on the personal data leak) · Yasukuni Shrine (in Japanese) · official
- 靖国神社、お守りや国旗など販売するサイトを停止…不正アクセス受け個人情報１万４５００件漏えい · Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese) · news
- 靖国神社のお守りなど受け付けるサイトに不正アクセス 氏名・メアドなどの個人情報約1万4500件が漏えい · TBS NEWS DIG (in Japanese) · news