Data breach at Revenue Quebec, two arrested

Police in Quebec have arrested two people in connection with a data breach at the provincial tax service, Revenue Quebec.

The breach affects 23,000 current, former, and contracted workers with the agency and includes names, social security numbers, and some birthdates and salaries; although banking, tax, and other financial data was not compromised.

The Canadian Press says that very few details of the breach were released by the authorities but police say that two people, a man and a woman, were arrested Wednesday. One of the two is believed to be a Revenue Quebec employee who had access to HR records; they have been fired.

It is reported that authorities were made aware of the breach on July 25 and that all those affected by the breach have been contacted or will be in the coming days.

Hot topic

Personal data security has been in focus recently following the cyber incident at Capital One which exposed the personal details of 6 million Canadians and 100 million in the US.

That incident is now the subject of a proposed class action lawsuit being managed by Charney Lawyers.

"The account information is highly sensitive,” says lead counsel Ted Charney. “In the wrong hands it can be used to commit identity fraud or to cause damage to your credit reputation. If released online it could be very embarrassing.”

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