Bell Canada reports data breach, customer data potentially exposed

Breach report comes months after a previous cyberattack saw customers' email details stolen

Bell Canada reports data breach, customer data potentially exposed

Cyber

By Lyle Adriano

Bell Canada has issued a warning after it discovered a data breach that exposed the information of about 100,000 consumers.

The breach report comes eight months after an anonymous cybercriminal illegally accessed Bell’s database and stole the email details of 1.9 million customers.

CBC News reported that the information obtained in the latest breach included details such as names, email addresses, account user names and numbers, and phone numbers. The telecom company said that there was no indication that credit card, banking, or other similar sensitive information was accessed.

The company also did not divulge when the breach took place, or whether it was related to the previous incident.

“We apologize to our customers and are contacting all those affected,” a company spokesperson said in an email sent to customers.

Bell said that it had notified the appropriate government agencies of the attack, including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

“Bell works closely with law enforcement, government and the broader technology industry to combat the growth of cybercrimes, and we have successfully supported law enforcement in past prosecutions of hackers,” Bell Canada spokesperson Marc Choma explained.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has confirmed to CBC News that Bell had notified the agency and that the Office is following up with the telecom firm to get more information and “determine follow-up actions.” The RCMP is also investigating the incident.


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