The British Columbia government and social media giants have made what they call a “historic collaboration” for youth safety online.  A joint statement from Premier David Eby and representatives of Meta, Google, TikTok, X and Snap Inc., the parent of Snapchat, says they met to help young people stay safe online, one of the most […]

A state or state-sponsored actor was likely responsible for a series of cybersecurity attacks targeting British Columbia government networks, Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s public safety minister and solicitor general, said Friday. He said he personally did not know the identity of the state or state-sponsored actor, and was currently not prepared to identify them if he […]

Police are involved in the investigation into a sophisticated attempt to breach protected British Columbia government information systems, Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said Thursday. But Farnworth, who is also B.C.’s public safety minister, said there was no evidence the cyberattack succeeded in accessing the information and there had been no ransom demand. “I can tell […]

The B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association is monitoring the government’s response to the series of “sophisticated cybersecurity incidents” identified over the course of the last week across the Government of British Columbia.  “Questions such as ‘how did this happen?’ and ‘what is being done to improve information security and prevent future incidents?’ must […]

British Columbia Premier David Eby said late Wednesday that the province had identified “sophisticated cybersecurity incidents” involving government networks. A government source later said the incidents were related to a directive to all provincial employees early last week that they should immediately change their passwords. That directive had previously been described by B.C.’s Office of […]

The successful mayoralty candidate and the acclaimed Ward 4 councillor will join a fully functioning Lakeland Ridges council when they take office following the May 6 by-election. Late Thursday, May 2, the Department of Environment and Local Government announced it would lift the suspension of the Lakeland Ridge council, effective May 15. The department suspended […]

A hacker demanded ransom money after obtaining data from a server used by libraries throughout British Columbia, but a system manager who responded to the incident says the leak was limited and the issue was fixed immediately. Scott Leslie is the privacy and security officer for the B.C. Libraries Cooperative and says they received an […]

Deep Water Recovery, the company that has been dismantling derelict vessels in Baynes Sound since 2020, has received another out of compliance warning from the province.  In an April 22 letter from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, environmental protection officer Katie Howatt writes that Deep Water Recovery (DWR) was out of compliance […]

London Drugs is investigating whether personal data was compromised in a cybersecurity incident that prompted the company to close all of its stores across Western Canada until further notice. A statement from the retailer and pharmacy chain says it will notify “affected individuals” if the probe finds their data was breached. The company says it’s […]

Confused shoppers milled around the front of a London Drugs store in downtown Vancouver on Monday, some wondering aloud why they couldn’t access the store to get prescriptions or buy hair dye. A metal gate was blocking them from the store at the corner of West Georgia and Granville streets, a security guard occasionally directing […]

British Columbia’s Opposition leader says community safety should come before protection of privacy rights for dangerous people.  The public should know who is living in their community, BC United Leader Kevin Falcon said on Thursday after introducing proposed private-member’s legislation to automatically stop people convicted of dangerous offences from legally changing their names.  He said […]

After over seven months of meetings being on hold, BC Ferries will be moving back to in-person engagement.  Virtual ferry advisory committee (FAC) meetings will begin in May, and in-person meetings will resume in June, said an April 19 press release. Last summer, BC Ferries experienced several incidents where there were concerns raised about staff […]