Privacy Commissioner investigating U.S. border licence plate cyberattack

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has opened an investigation looking into the Canadian Border Services Agency after a cyberattack affected the licence plate reader it was using at the U.S. border, CBC News reports.

In June, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency revealed that travellers’ photos and licence plates collected at its borders were exposed and stolen in a cyberattack.

The breach affected less than 100,000 people and it is possible that Canadians could have been affected. A spokesperson from the CBSA told MobileSyrup at the time that there was a cyberattack and that the company, Perceptics, that was used has various contracts with the CBSA.

“We are currently reviewing and assessing what impacts, if any, this breach has on our operations and Canadians. While the CBSA awaits the completion of the forensic investigation, our information at this time is that this incident does not pose systems or security vulnerabilities,” the spokesperson wrote.

Now, the CBC News reports, that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has opened an investigation into the attack.

“Our office has continued to engage with CBSA and has initiated an investigation into the breach with respect to CBSA records,” said Vito Pilieci, spokesperson for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, in an email to CBC News. “Due to confidentiality provisions in the Privacy Act, I cannot provide any further details at this time.”

The CBSA has received notice of the investigation and said they are “committed to working with them throughout their investigation.”

It is worth adding that the government has issued many contracts totalling to more than $21 million to Perceptics.

Source: CBC News