Bell Canada has been compromised in a breach that reportedly affects up to 100.000 individuals.
It was communicated to customers, that their names and personal emails were accessed in a malicious campaign. On another hand, Canadian news reports said phone numbers, usernames and account numbers may have also been obtained by hackers.
In order to improve the security provided to their users, Bell has implemented some procedures. Users were advised to change their passwords and security questions, and regularly review their financial and online accounts for unauthorized activity.
“The protection of consumer and corporate information is of primary importance to Bell,” John Watson, Executive Vice-President of Customer Experience at Bell Canada, told customers. “We work closely with the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies, government bodies and the broader technology industry to combat the growth of cyber crimes.”
According to securityweek, “Lisa Baergen, marketing director with Vancouver-based NuData Security, a Mastercard company, pointed out that even limited information such as names and email addresses can be useful to malicious actors.”
“We all know bad actors are very talented at preparing fraud schemes with that information, such as phishing scams or dictionary attacks – where fraudsters try certain common passwords based on the user’s personal information,” Baergen said.
“Bell is doing the right thing by evaluating the extent of the damage and keeping customers updated,” she added. “However, to avoid damage after a breach, companies that share clients with Bell can consider applying multi-layered security solutions based on passive biometrics to protect their business and their customers from account takeover of another type of fraud. Online security technologies that evaluate a user or a transaction based on their behavior and not only on their – potentially stolen – static information, thwart all fraudulent attempts that inevitably come after a data breach.”
Notice that this is the second time that Bell Canada has informed customers of a data breach. “In May last year, the company admitted that approximately 1.9 million active email addresses and roughly 1,700 names and active phone numbers were accessed by a hacker. It is unclear if the two incidents are related.”
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