Bell Canada hack involved mostly email addresses
Email addresses, names and telephone numbers of about 1.9 million Bell Canada customers were illegally accessed by an anonymous hacker, the operator acknowledged on Monday.
“There is no indication that any financial, password or other sensitive personal information was accessed,” Bell Canada said in a statement. “This incident is not connected to the recent global WannaCry malware attacks.”
The hacker was able to access about 1.9 million active email addresses, Bell Canada said, but only about 1,700 names and active phone numbers. The company said that it had taken steps to secure the affected systems and was working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s cyber crime unit on an investigation of the incident. Bell Canada also said that it will be contacting affected customers directly.
Cybersecurity stocks rose in Monday trading after the WannaCry ransomware attacks that surged on Friday and into the weekend. The National Health Service in the United Kingdom was a high-profile victim, as the ransomware infiltration led to disruptions in patient care, including appointment cancellations and diverting patients to hospital locations that hadn’t been impacted by the ransomware. The virus also affected Spanish companies including network operator Telefonica, which had an internal corporate network affected by the ransomware. By Monday, Reuters reported, the virus (also known as WannaCryptor or Wcrypt) had infected 300,000 systems in more than 150 countries and investors were responding by sinking money into companies that might benefit from an increased focus on securing corporate networks. Cybersecurity company FireEye’s stock was up 7.5% when the market closed Monday, and Palo Alto Networks and Symantec were among the other companies which got a boost from the WannaCry wave.
Although the attacks are unrelated, the fact that two major international operators fell victim to hacks within days of each other is bound to raise concerns within communications providers about the robustness of their systems and their potential areas of vulnerability.
“Telecoms service providers across the world will be on high alert this week, following the ransomware attacks that have affected millions of computers in 150 countries over the past four days,” said Robert Winters, director of communications security at Cobham Wireless, in a statement to RCR Wireless News. “Spain’s Telefonica was affected by the malicious attack on Friday, which it said was limited to some internal computers and didn’t affect customer services. However, this breach will have sent warnings across the telecoms industry that networks are vulnerable, which could potentially affect millions of consumer and business customers.
“As many companies fear additional fallout this week, ensuring that their networks are secure is a top priority for telecoms service providers,” Winters said. “They must take preventative actions to identify any flaws in their networks that could cause them to be infiltrated. This is possible by doing real-world threat emulation on their networks, testing the myriad of veritable ransomware and malware that could damage their communications services and reputations. If service providers don’t move now, there is the danger that the attacks could affect critical communications services, such as those used by emergency services, hospitals and banks, as well as the everyday telecoms services that consumers rely on.”
