Furusato Choice, a hometown-tax donation platform that stopped accepting donations after unauthorized access, will resume its web service at noon on the 6th, the operator Trustbank said on the 5th. The app version will remain unavailable.
Trustbank confirmed the unauthorized access in mid-October and shut the service down. Data on about 4.45 million members was exposed, including names, email addresses and home addresses, as well as the estimated amounts of their donation tax deductions.
The company invalidated every member's password in response. Users will need to set a new password when they log in. Trustbank said it will strengthen system monitoring and carry out continuous checks and improvements to prevent a repeat.
Hometown tax donations — furusato nozei — let people give to local governments of their choice and claim part of the money back against their own tax bills. Furusato Choice is one of the largest sites that handles those donations.