Sometimes, cyber risks do not come from the outside, but within.
The emails of senior staff and council members with the city of Yellowknife have been compromised after a supposed data breach by one of its own.
Emails were reportedly taken by an employee of the city in late 2016, CBC said. The employee, whose identity was not disclosed, apparently took the documents in response to the city administration’s alleged lack of internal and external transparency.
According to the employee that accessed the files, there was a “distorted flow of information” from members of the administration to the mayor and city council that hamstrung the council’s ability to make decisions over city issues. The employee said that the breach includes emails by senior municipal staff over several years.
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According to CBC, the emails were comprised of all the messages a member of senior city administration sent from their work email over several months in 2014. Some of the emails discuss sensitive issues.
Another Yellowknife resident whose identity was not revealed notified the city of the breach last spring.
City councillor Steve Payne said that, as of October 01, he had not been advised by the administration that his emails have been compromised.
“I have heard rumors there was a leak,” he told CBC. “It’s disturbing that something like this could happen.”
Other city councillors declined to comment on the matter.
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