It looks like there may have been a big data breach at the foreign affairs department of the Canadian government.
CBC News reports that what they call a “long-term data security breach” on Global Affairs Canada’s private network is being looked into.
The news service says that at least two private hard drives were breached, along with the emails, calendars, and contacts of many staff members.
Because of the event, some employees have been told they can’t work from home. The CBC saw a government email to staff that says any team member who used a virtual private network to join from afar between December 30, 2023, and January 24, 2024, could have their data at risk.
The CBC saw a government email to staff that says any team member who used a virtual private network to join from afar between December 30, 2023, and January 24, 2024, could have their data at risk.
As of now, it looks like there was a data breach and someone got into the personal information of users, including workers, without permission, Global Affairs told IT World Canada.
“The Department is getting in touch with those who will be affected to let them know about steps that can be taken to protect sensitive and personal information.” Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner has also been told about the occurrence.
Suggested: Canada becomes second most drug-addicted country in world, study says
“Remote access to Global Affairs Canada (GAC)’s network in the country is currently being blocked by an unplanned IT outage.” The Department’s important services and routes for communicating with the outside world are still available and working. On January 24, 2024, this partial outage was set off on purpose to deal with the finding of malicious cyber activity. As soon as possible, Global Affairs Canada is working with IT partners like Shared Services Canada and the Canadian Center for Cybersecurity (part of the Communications Security Establishment) to get everyone back online.
Shared Services Canada is in charge of bringing together and updating some IT services across all government departments. These services include network, email, and data center services.
The Global Affairs statement said that on-site staff connectivity in government buildings is fully functional, allowing for normal computer and network access. “Canadian employees who work from home have been given workarounds to make sure they can keep doing their jobs.”
Every day, the Canadian Government has to deal with online risks and threats that don’t go away. Because of its reputation, Global Affairs Canada is proactive and uses a number of security monitoring tools to find and deal with possible threats. People in the Department are keeping a close eye on things and are looking into what’s going on.
Leave a Reply