Quebec public daycare registry hit by cyberattack, 5,000 personal files compromised
Quebec Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe reacts to a report on youth, Tuesday, May 4, 2021, in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot May 11, 2021 - 2:28 PM
MONTREAL - Quebec s online daycare waiting list was hit by a cyberattack over the weekend, with the personal data of 5,000 parents and children compromised.
Families Minister Mathieu Lacombe confirmed in a statement Tuesday he was one of the victims of the attack, first reported by Montreal La Presse.
The news organization reported that someone created an administrator profile to access the data and downloaded the files of 5,000 parents awaiting a daycare spot. The compromised information included names, birthdates and phone numbers.
MONTREAL Some 5,000 Quebec families had confidential information stolen in a hack of a central provincial daycare-booking website, officials say. The group in charge of La Place 0-5, Quebec s portal to help parents find a daycare, say they have secured the breach that allowed a hacker to get his or her hands on the files. The site remains closed, however. In a news release Tuesday, the Cooperative Enfance Family, which manages the site, explained that an unauthorized person got access to the daycare waiting list and downloaded the files of families on the list, including private information. Quebec provincial police and a governmental cybersecurity office are both investigating, the release said.
Hacker downloads files of 5,000 children from La Place 0-5, including son of family minister
A hacker downloaded the files of 5,000 children La Place 0-5, the only gateway to all of the province s recognized child-care services. One of those files belongs to the son of the province s family minister.
Social Sharing
CBC News ·
Posted: May 11, 2021 8:25 AM ET | Last Updated: May 11
The personal information of thousands of parents has been stolen following a data breach at La Place 0-5.(Charles Contant/CBC)