Senior execs at Softbank in Japan are to take a pay cut after the personal details of more than four million broadband punters leaked out.

Softbank - which together with Yahoo! operates broadband outfit "Yahoo! BB" in Japan - has been the victim of a scam to extort billions of Yen from the company, reported The Japan Times.

At the time Softbank said it was aware of 242 punters whose personal data had been compromised. The info included addresses, names, telephone numbers, dates of application and email addresses. However, no credit or security information such as credit card numbers, passwords or records of use was included.

Today, it's emerged that the leak - thought to be an inside job - covers some 4.5m former and existing Yahoo! BB punters. Internal security has been tightened, said Softbank.

At a news conference Softbank president, Masayoshi Son, apologised for the slip and said he and other senior execs would be on half pay for the next six months.

The company is set to spend around four billion yen (£20 million) compensating those hit by the leak. ®