Nova Scotia government still unsure of widespread impact from spring cyberattack | CTV News
Nova Scotia government still unsure of widespread impact from spring cyberattack
Jonathan MacInnis
Jonathan MacInnis
CTV News Atlantic Reporter
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Published Aug. 9, 2023 11:11 p.m. BST
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HALIFAX - The province of Nova Scotia is still unsure of how widespread the MOVEit security breach is, nearly two-and-a-half months after first becoming aware of the issue.
Almost 1000 notifications have been sent out this month.
“As you start getting into forensics you can find out that that trail can lead back a lot further and sometimes it can take weeks, months, before you really know the full impact,” says cybersecurity expert Scott Beck.
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Officials with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education just sent out notices to parents of students whose data was compromised.
They’re being told to expect details about what personal information was accessed and what steps should be taken. Retired teachers and employees who have passed away have also been affected.
A statement sent to CTV from the provincial department of cybersecurity and digital solutions says, “We know this is upsetting for the families of any deceased people whose information was stolen and we are sorry for that. As we said initially, certified teachers born in 1935 or later had their personal information stolen during the breach.”
Beck says this type of information shouldn’t have been stored with that of current employees.
“Old data typically would be archived and sandboxed away from active files,” he explains. “We can theorize that in this case that if it hadn’t been inside of the software that was compromised and wasn’t active, it wouldn’t have been touched.”
“I’m worried about it,” says Liberal opposition leader Zach Churchill.
Churchill says the government is not offering enough information about the breach.
“People are concerned that they’re going to be impacted by their information being in the hands of bad actors and the province has kind of clammed up in terms of information that they’re sharing,” Churchill says.
It’s not just a Nova Scotia problem, either. The BBC, British Airways even the United States Department of Energy have also been hacked.
“It has even gotten in front of homeland security in the U.S. and in front of congress. We’re starting to see some lawsuits coming out of this, people suing over their data being breached,” explains Beck.
Officials with the province say their notification process is almost complete, nearly three months after the breach was first detected.
Nova Scotia is also warning people against phishing scams that try to use a privacy breach to steal information.
If anyone gets notified about the current breach, the province won’t ask for things like social insurance numbers, banking information or money transfers.
Jonathan MacInnis
Jonathan MacInnis
CTV News Atlantic Reporter
Follow | Contact
Published Aug. 9, 2023 11:11 p.m. BST
Share
facebooktwitterreddit More share options
HALIFAX - The province of Nova Scotia is still unsure of how widespread the MOVEit security breach is, nearly two-and-a-half months after first becoming aware of the issue.
Almost 1000 notifications have been sent out this month.
“As you start getting into forensics you can find out that that trail can lead back a lot further and sometimes it can take weeks, months, before you really know the full impact,” says cybersecurity expert Scott Beck.
RELATED STORIES
Some government employees unsure if their information was compromised in N.S. MOVEit data hack
No similar incidents reported in most provinces after N.S. data breach
N.S. identifies thousands more victims of global data hack, including school workers
Nova Scotia estimates up to 100,000 people affected by online security breach
N.S. government to contact people impacted by cybersecurity breach
Officials with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education just sent out notices to parents of students whose data was compromised.
They’re being told to expect details about what personal information was accessed and what steps should be taken. Retired teachers and employees who have passed away have also been affected.
A statement sent to CTV from the provincial department of cybersecurity and digital solutions says, “We know this is upsetting for the families of any deceased people whose information was stolen and we are sorry for that. As we said initially, certified teachers born in 1935 or later had their personal information stolen during the breach.”
Beck says this type of information shouldn’t have been stored with that of current employees.
“Old data typically would be archived and sandboxed away from active files,” he explains. “We can theorize that in this case that if it hadn’t been inside of the software that was compromised and wasn’t active, it wouldn’t have been touched.”
“I’m worried about it,” says Liberal opposition leader Zach Churchill.
Churchill says the government is not offering enough information about the breach.
“People are concerned that they’re going to be impacted by their information being in the hands of bad actors and the province has kind of clammed up in terms of information that they’re sharing,” Churchill says.
It’s not just a Nova Scotia problem, either. The BBC, British Airways even the United States Department of Energy have also been hacked.
“It has even gotten in front of homeland security in the U.S. and in front of congress. We’re starting to see some lawsuits coming out of this, people suing over their data being breached,” explains Beck.
Officials with the province say their notification process is almost complete, nearly three months after the breach was first detected.
Nova Scotia is also warning people against phishing scams that try to use a privacy breach to steal information.
If anyone gets notified about the current breach, the province won’t ask for things like social insurance numbers, banking information or money transfers.
