Kyoto University in Japan lost approximately 77 TB of research data due to a failure in the backup system of its Hewlett-Packard.
See also: Colorado university notifies students of data breach
The incident occurred between December 14 and 16, 2021, and resulted in 34 million files from 14 research groups being deleted from the system and backup archive.
After an investigation to determine the impact of the loss, the university concluded that the work of four of the affected groups could no longer be restored.
All affected users have been individually notified of the incident via email, but no details were released about the type of work lost.
The backup process is currently down. To prevent data loss again, the university has taken down the backup system and plans to implement improvements and restore it in January 2022.
See also: University of Sunderland: Out of service due to cyberattack
The plan is also to maintain incremental backups, which cover files that have changed since the last creation, in addition to full backups.
While the details of the type of data lost were not disclosed to the public, supercomputer research costs several hundred dollars an hour, so this incident certainly caused concern among the affected groups.
Kyoto University is considered one of Japan's most important research institutions and enjoys the second largest scientific research investment from national grants.
Its research excellence and importance is particularly distinct in the field of chemistry, where it ranks fourth worldwide, while it also contributes to biology, pharmacology, immunology, materials science and physics.
See also: Phishing attacks target US universities
At present, Kyoto University has not shared further details about the incident and its impact on the research teams.
