Telecoms company Bell Canada has announced that it was the victim of a massive data breach by an anonymous hacker.
The company determined that about 1.9 million customer email addresses were stolen during the cyberattack. Customer names and about 1,700 telephone numbers were also illegally accessed, Bell said.
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Not long after the attack, hackers posted customer information online, but Bell could not confirm if the information being illegally revealed to the public is the same data that was stolen during the recent breach.
An individual (or group of individuals) alleging to be responsible for the attack posted a message online, threatening Bell that they would release “a significant portion” of the company’s data because Bell “failed to cooperate” with the attackers.
“This shows how Bell doesn’t care for its customers’ safety and they could have avoided this public announcement,” the post read. “Bell, if you don’t cooperate more will leak.”
Bell is working with the RCMP to investigate the breach.
“There is no indication that any financial, password or other sensitive personal information was accessed,” the company said in a statement. Bell also offered reassurance that the data breach has nothing to do with the recent WannaCry ransomware attacks.
CBC reported that it was not clear when the breach occurred, or how the data was accessed, or for how long the attacker/s had access to the telecom company’s systems.
Bell director of communications Marc Choma told
CBC that he could not comment on the incident or on the specifics of the data leaked because the investigation was continuing.
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