Japanese Karaoke Chain Says 8.7 Million Records May Have Leaked
Daiichi Kosho, the Japanese company behind the Big Echo karaoke chain, said on Oct. 8, 2026, that about 8,724,000 customer and employee records may have leaked after malware was found on a single PC at a contractor it had hired to handle personal data.
The company said that the information involved is the name on the account, gender, date of birth, email address and phone number, and that passwords are not among them. It said it has not confirmed that any data actually left the contractor, that anything has been misused, or that its own systems were affected. It also said it cannot rule out that a leak occurred.
Daiichi Kosho said in its notice that malware was found on one employee PC at Nippon Columbia Group between Oct. 1, 2026, and Oct. 2, 2026. The contractor isolated the machine from its network on Oct. 2, 2026, examined what data it held, and told Daiichi Kosho the result on Oct. 5, 2026.
About 93,000 of the total are employee records, Daiichi Kosho said; the rest are customers who signed up for membership or made reservations at its karaoke and restaurant brands, among them Big Echo, Karaoke CLUB DAM and DK Dining.
The company warned customers that the information could be used in impersonation emails or phishing attempts, asked them not to open unfamiliar links or attachments, and said it never asks customers for passwords or card details. It said that the data alone cannot be used to spend a customer's loyalty points, and that no fraudulent use of points has been found.
Daiichi Kosho said that Nippon Columbia Group has reset the login credentials involved, and that the contractor and outside specialists are still investigating the cause and the scope, including whether anything leaked at all. It said it is also checking its own systems and will publish more if the investigation establishes new facts.
