Earlier this week, Bell Canada disclosed the company’s data was breached, which led to the leak of 1.9 million customer email addresses, plus nearly 1,700 names and active phone numbers.
Bell claimed “no indication that any financial, password or other sensitive personal information was accessed,” plus noted there was no link to the WannaCry malware attacks.
Now, it appears the hacker who breached Bell’s servers demanded a ransom, which the company ignored, and ultimately did not pay. This resulted in the leak of the 1.9 million emails.
“A demand for payment was made by the hacker, but it was not paid,” Bell spokesman Marc Choma said via email on Tuesday to Reuters. “We did not reply to their demand.”
The documents dumped by the hacker included alleged logs of customer service interactions. Bell was warned by the hacker more information would be leaked publicly if they did not “cooperate.”
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien told Reuters ““We are waiting for a fuller report sometime today,” when asked if Bell had followed the correct procedures in the aftermath of the hack.
The attack cast a shadow on the company’s earlier launch of Alt TV, a new live TV streaming service for $15/month that does not require a cable subscription or hardware, but does require a Fibe Internet plan.
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And they shouldn’t pay the hacker.
…especially if Bell could give a rats about their customer’s and the customer’s right to privacy.
Anyone can be hacked, not just Bell.
I already changed my password. I wish Bell (and everyone else for that matter) had two-factor authentication. Could also use MS or Google’s Authenticator app on our devices. Should I change my challenge questions too?
since Alt and Fibe was brought up in this article, what if you don’t have Fibe available in your area? They should allow anybody to sign up for this service. Just like the apple tv app for Bell, which requires you to have Fibe…. WTF. if i had Fibe, i really wouldn’t need these other services…
This is Bell we’re talking about. They don’t want you using their services on other internet providers.
Oh the irony. Bell wants to keep its monopoly on extortion.
Good on Bell for not paying the hacker, that would only encourage more of this. I hope they are able to prosecute the hacker…