Nova Scotia electric utility says stolen customer data includes bank account numbers

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s electric utility says data stolen from its customers includes credit histories, social insurance numbers and information on driver’s licences and bank accounts.

In an update today, Nova Scotia Power says some customers’ names, ages, phone numbers, as well as email, mailing and service addresses may have also been taken.

The utility’s release says it has started notifying customers about the details of the data breach.

Nova Scotia Power says its servers were breached on or around March 19 and that information “was accessed and later taken by an unauthorized third party.”

The utility says customers should watch out for unsolicited communications such as messages appearing to be from Nova Scotia Power asking for personal information.

Cybersecurity experts have said that the breach has the hallmarks of a ransomware attack – in which extortionists steal a company’s data and then demand a ransom to unlock the files.