Canadian Press

Source: Canadian Press


Indigo refuses to pay ransom, warns stolen employee data may be posted to dark web

Canada’s biggest bookstore chain is warning employees that data stolen in a cyberattack may be posted on the so-called dark web after it refused to pay a ransom demand. Indigo Books & Music Inc. said Thursday that its network was hijacked by cyber criminals using a ransomware software known as LockBit last month, knocking its […]

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Biden begins push for funding for pandemic fraud measures

President Joe Biden’s administration is asking Congress to agree to pay more than $1.6 billion to help clean up the mess of fraud against the massive government coronavirus pandemic relief programs. In a strategy announced Thursday, the administration called for money and more time to prosecute cases, to put into place new ways to prevent […]

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What is TikTok doing with my data and should I ditch the app?

TORONTO — TikTok has been in the spotlight this week after the federal government announced it was banning the social media app from its devices days after Canadian privacy commissioners began investigating the company. The developments stem from renewed interest in ByteDance, the app’s parent company, being based in China, where laws allow the country […]

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Fisheries Department scrambled to claw back ‘ill timed’ lobster tweet

OTTAWA — Some people can’t see the forest for the trees. Others can’t see the hurricane for the lobsters. On Sept. 24, around 9 a.m. Atlantic time, a few hours after Hurricane Fiona had slowed slightly into a post-tropical cyclone and slammed into Nova Scotia, the federal Fisheries Department issued two preplanned posts on Twitter […]

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German government pushes back on call to close Facebook page

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Monday pushed back against a demand by the country’s data protection commissioner to take down its Facebook page over data privacy concerns. The commissioner, Ulrich Kelber, said Wednesday that he had given the government’s press office four weeks to shut down the page. “All public agencies have a […]

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Black activist who became PM of Dominica was target of RCMP dirty tricks: documents

OTTAWA — It has long been known that the RCMP Security Service took a keen interest in Roosevelt “Rosie” Douglas, a Black rights activist who attended school in Canada and would go on to be prime minister of Dominica. But recently released records reveal just how far the Mounties would go in the early 1970s […]

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Bills would let transgender people seal name change requests

SEATTLE (AP) — You can change your name, but in many states you can’t completely shed your old one — something that’s of particular concern to transgender people and that legislators in at least two states are trying to change. A bill in Washington would allow gender expression and identity as reasons to seal, or […]

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School boards urge Ontario to lift moratorium on closures

TORONTO — Ontario’s public school boards are calling on the province to lift a moratorium on school closures and to finally complete a review — started six years ago — of how those closure decisions get made. The previous Liberal government first promised the review and enacted the moratorium in 2017, when it was under […]

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Indigo employees’ data breached in ransomware attack

A ransomware attack compromised the data of current and former employees at Canada’s biggest bookstore chain, Indigo Books & Music Inc. says. In a statement on its website, Indigo said the breach on Feb. 8 left no indication that customers’ personal information, such as credit card numbers, had been accessed, but that “some employee data […]

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Privacy commissioners looking into TikTok should investigate other apps: expert

TORONTO — At least one public policy expert says an investigation into TikTok launched by Canada’s Privacy Commissioner should prompt a similar look into other apps. Vass Bednar, the executive director of the Master of Public Policy in Digital Society at McMaster University, says issues around consent and data collection surround several TikTok rivals. While […]

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TikTok investigation sign of data privacy, geopolitical climate: academics

TORONTO — An investigation into TikTok launched by Canada’s Privacy Commissioner this week is a symptom of growing unrest around data privacy, but also a sign of the extent of geopolitical tensions, academics say. The investigation revealed Thursday by the federal privacy watchdog and its counterparts in B.C., Alberta and Quebec is meant to delve […]

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Feds fail to disclose Coastal GasLink data on salmon eggs, habitat

Shannon McPhail said she felt like the “world’s biggest schmuck” after reading an email from a senior official at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The official told her it was “impossible to confirm” how many living salmon eggs were in the path of the Coastal GasLink pipeline at a major river crossing. With wild salmon populations […]

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