No financial or health info exposed in Algonquin College cyber attack

Algonquin College is contacting thousands of students and alumni whose date of birth and home address information may have been exposed in a cyber security breach on two months ago.

As a precaution, more than 4,500 people are being offered identify theft protection based on the College's risk-assessment analysis.

The school said an additional 106,931 individuals — including students, alumni, and current and former employees — had non-sensitive information that may have been exposed on the server. 

This information was assessed as presenting a “low risk of misuse” if in fact it were accessed. 

The College is in the process of contacting this second group by letter.

On May 16, Algonquin College discovered unauthorized and illegal access by hackers on one server infected with malware, and acted immediately to re-establish the security of the server. 

Forensic experts were brought in to investigate the scope of the attack and the information compromised. 

The investigation determined that the infected server hosted access to databases which contained personal information.

The detailed forensic investigation currently underway has shown no direct evidence of any data being accessed or taken in the attack.

That analysis also shows that no financial information was exposed in the incident. For example, the data did not contain Social Insurance Numbers (SIN), banking or credit card information. The affected data also did not include any personal health information.

The College has set up a toll-free number for anyone with questions or concerns (1-866-252-2644 during normal business hours). They can also e-mail acadvisory@algonquincollege.com or visit our website (algonquincollege.com/cyber) for more information.

The College has since implemented a number of additional security measures recommended by an external security consultant.

“We are committed to communicating with and supporting those affected, and addressing any concerns they might have,” said Algonquin College President Cheryl Jensen. “We are also focused on reviewing and improving security measures to help us guard against similar incidents.”

Algonquin has also informed the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and the Ottawa Police Service so that they will be informed and able to assist individuals affected in the unlikely event that some misuse of information occurs.