Privacy watchdog finds thousands of tax account breaches, urges stronger protections
Philippe Dufresne said the agency failed to protect taxpayer information and accepted eight of nine recommendations to improve account security.
- Federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne tabled a report in Parliament on Thursday revealing more than 42,000 unauthorized accesses or modifications to Canada Revenue Agency taxpayer accounts since 2020.
- The Canada Revenue Agency failed to implement mandatory multi-factor authentication in a timely manner and lacked tracking capabilities to detail every confirmed breach or explain how attackers bypassed security.
- Unauthorized access to accounts potentially exposed sensitive taxpayer information, including social insurance numbers, home addresses, and detailed tax data. "Breaches can be linked to an incident where only a single account is impacted, or linked to a complex case where multiple taxpayers' accounts are impacted," the report said.
- Dufresne made nine recommendations to strengthen protections, and the Canada Revenue Agency accepted eight in full, pledging to notify suspected victims by phone or letter to validate their identity.
- The CRA must improve its breach tracking and ensure its monitoring and detection approach is "tailored to the threats and risks" posed by bad actors, as directed by the commissioner.
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37 Articles
Taxpayer information accessed amid 42,000 CRA account breaches, privacy watchdog finds
The federal privacy watchdog says there have been more than 42,000 breaches at the Canada Revenue Agency since 2020 as a result of people gaining unauthorized access to, or modifying, taxpayer information.
Privacy watchdog finds thousands of tax account breaches, urges stronger protections
The federal privacy watchdog says there have been more than 42,000 breaches at the Canada Revenue Agency since 2020 as a result of people gaining unauthorized access to, or modifying, taxpayer information.
More than 42,000 data violations have been identified at the Canada Revenue Agency since 2020, according to the Privacy Commissioner.
The federal privacy agency reports that more than 42,000 data violations have been recorded at the Canada Revenue Agency since 2020, in cases of unauthorized access or modification of taxpayer's personal information.
Federal Privacy Agency reports that more than 42,000 data violations have been identified at the Canada Revenue Agency since 2020, in cases of unauthorized access or modification of taxpayer's personal information
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