Top Canadian arts and cultural organizations are cautioning patrons that some of their personal data may have been exposed in a recent security incident involving their e-mail service provider.
Cyber threats are on the rise and becoming more sophisticated, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security spokesperson Evan Koronewski said in an e-mail to The Globe. Although cybercriminals can target organizations of any size, they are “particularly skilled” at targeting those with large databases for higher paydays., 83 per cent of Canadian businesses reported attempted ransomware attacks, while 67 per cent have fallen victim to one.
“You want to protect personal information because it can be used for not good purposes, it can be used to launch a cyberattack,” Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange strategic adviser Bob Gordon said in an interview with The Globe. An e-mail from the COC informed patrons that their names, e-mails and COC IDs might have been compromised while assuring that no financial information was leaked.