Nikon issued a statement that a total 86 Nikon Image Space accounts were compromised. The issue is now fixed, but those 86 users will no longer be able to login to their accounts (full details after the break). Nikon Image Space offers 20GB of free online photo storage if you own a Nikon camera. New Android and iOS apps for Nikon Image Space were released few months ago.
Announcement of, and Apologies for, Problems with “NIKON IMAGE SPACE”, Nikon’s Image Sharing and Storage Site
June 20, 2013
Nikon Corporation (Makoto Kimura, President) reports that a problem with “NIKON IMAGE SPACE”, the image sharing and storage site managed by Nikon, has resulted in mutual account accessibility for 43 pairs (86 users) of new accounts registered under certain conditions. Random account access by various users is not possible. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, concerns, or worry this may have caused.
After this problem was detected, we identified the cause and implemented measures to prevent recurrence, and finally confirmed that it had not occurred with any other users than those originally identified.The issue
It has come to our attention that new accounts for 43 users created between 12:10 pm, Thursday, June 6, and 10:00 pm, Tuesday, June 11, 2013 (all dates/times in Japan Standard Time) can be accessed by another 43 users, and vice versa. This means that accounts for a total of 86 users can each be accessed by two users—the actual account holder and one other user. This is the result of a problem with the “NIKON IMAGE SPACE” system. After examining the system, we found evidence that the images and membership information (name, nickname, e-mail address, telephone number) of 32 of those users had been accessed in some way without the user’s knowledge.
*Worldwide distribution of 32 affected users: 8 in Japan, 11 in the U.S., 3 in Italy, 2 each in Spain, Germany, and Australia, 1 each in the U.K., France, Belgium, and Malaysia
Cause
There were problems with the “NIKON IMAGE SPACE” internal program updated on June 6, 2013 (Thursday). Usually, with new membership registration, a unique number, used for internal management of accounts, is assigned to each member. Over the span of several days, however, several of the same numbers were assigned to two new members.
Emergency response
Immediately after this problem was detected, we identified the cause and implemented measures to prevent recurrence, and confirmed that it had not occurred with more than the 32 users identified. Finally, the internal program was corrected at 6:30 pm on June 14, 2013 (Friday) to ensure that these unique internal management numbers are not assigned to more than one user or account.
However, to prevent the situation from becoming any worse for the original 86 users affected by this problem, those 86 users remain unable to log-in to their accounts. We have e-mailed these 86 users individually with a report of the problem and our sincerest apologies.Measures to prevent recurrence
Nikon takes this problem very seriously indeed. Not only will a revision of system design and quality standards be implemented, but the monitoring system and items monitored to ensure consistency of data will be reinforced to prevent future inconsistencies and restore reliability.
