Malware discovered on P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island) government computer network

guest · Feb 25, 2020

Malware discovered on P.E.I. government computer network
'No reason to believe that Islanders' personal information has been affected'
February 25, 2020
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-government-computers-malware-1.5475867

Malware was recently discovered on the P.E.I. government's computer network, officials said in a news release early Tuesday evening.

"Sunday afternoon February 23, government discovered malware on its network," the release said.
Measures to combat the malware were immediately put in place, it continued.

The release continued that government felt the public should be made aware of the discovery, "and reassured that security of their information is extremely important to the government."
Officials were not immediately available for comment beyond the release.
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guest · Feb 26, 2020

P.E.I. government followed best practices in handling of ransomware attack, privacy expert says
February 26, 2020
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prin...ctices-followed-expert-says-1.5477511?cmp=rss

A privacy expert says the P.E.I government followed best practices in its transparency and handling of a recent ransomware attack based on information that has been released to date.

The public was alerted to the breach in a press release on Tuesday evening.

"There's kind of a tendency when this happens to lock your doors and pull down the blinds and not talk to anyone until you figure out every single detail, but this kind of coming forward and providing lots of details … I hope gives people confidence and reassurance," said Dr. Mike Smit of the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University.

The investigation includes two streams, Brennan said: investigating how the virus got onto the server and restoring the data from before the malware attached, so as not to bring it back into the network.
"Unfortunately it's going to take the time it takes. We're not putting a hard timeline around it," Brennan said.
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guest · Jul 4, 2020

P.E.I. ransomware attack costs taxpayers more than $900K
Investigation continues in provincial government data breach
July 3, 2020
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-ransomware-attack-costs-1.5636485?cmp=rss

A recent ransomware attack on P.E.I. government servers has cost taxpayers more than $900,000, according to P.E.I.'s finance minister.

Darlene Compton told the legislature the costs are in two areas: upgrades to existing government hardware and providing two years of free credit monitoring subscriptions to Islanders whose information was stolen.
The total cost of the data breach is $909,387.

A group of hackers claimed to be responsible and said they were stealing 200 GBs of data. The group is infamous for humiliating victims until they pay up but the province said it did not pay any ransom to the hackers.
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Virus active for 90 minutes

"We were proactive in informing Islanders about the event," said Darelne Compton. "We personally spoke to those directly affected once it was known that their data had been stolen."
The government has not said how many private citizens are affected by the attack that took place in late February. The virus was active for 90 minutes before it was contained, according to government officials.
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guest · Aug 7, 2022

Investigation reveals thousands had info exposed in P.E.I. arts centre data breach
August 4, 2022

The full impact of a data breach at Prince Edward Island’s largest arts centre is now clear. The results of a recently completed investigation show thousands of people had their personal information exposed.

The cyberattack was first reported by the Confederation Centre of the Arts in January. In February, officials confirmed it was a ransomware attack, which exposed some personal information held on the organization’s servers.

“A ransomware attack is where criminals will encrypt or scramble the data and systems of an organization preventing them from being able to access it or use it, essentially rendering it all useless,” said David Shipley, CEO of New Brunswick-based cybersecurity firm Beauceron. “Then they hold it for an extortion payment.”
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The recently completed investigation into the breach found about 3,000 people were exposed, some just names and email addresses, but others had their date of birth and social insurance number exposed.

Officials say the affected people have been contacted, with the highest risk being offered credit monitoring and insurance.
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The Confederation Centre’s new system has improved backups and monitoring, as well as new information management policy.

“We’re not storing people’s personal information,” said Zver. “So if or when this happens again then we’ll be fine because we know the information wasn’t there for them to take.”
Officials say the box office and payroll system was not breached, so stored financial information should have remained secure.
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