Calgary Parking Authority apologizes for 2021 security breach

The Calgary Parking Authority (CPA) is apologizing for a breach of its security system last year.

An investigation by the CPA, City of Calgary, and a third-party cyber security expert found 145,895 customers had their names, emails, usernames, licence plates, addresses, and other personal information exposed in the hack.

Within 20 minutes of the CPA becoming aware of the breach, the data was secured.

“Protecting access to our systems, and the safety and security of your personal information is a top priority for us,” said interim general manager of the CPA Chris Blaschuk. “This was an unfortunate, isolated incident; however, we have worked closely with our partners to strengthen our cyber security protections and mitigate incidents of a similar nature from occurring in the future.

“We believe there is a low risk that the elements of personal information may be further exposed. We continue to monitor the situation closely,” said Blaschuk. “We sincerely appreciate your understanding and regret any distress this incident may have caused.”

The CPA adds it now has Cyber Secure Canada Certification, and there has been no evidence of any more personal info being leaked since it updated its cyber security measures.

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Protecting yourself online

The CPA says to protect yourself from cyber threats, you should:

• Change your password regularly. Do not use easily guessed passwords. Do not use the same passwords for multiple accounts.
• Monitor your accounts and report suspicious activity.
• Be vigilant against third parties attempting to gather information by deception (known as “phishing”), including links to fake websites.

According to David Shipley, CEO and founder of Beauceron Security, security features like multi-factor authentication can decrease the risk of having your personal accounts hacked.

He says Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator can be used to reduce risk and password guessing by 99.9 per cent.

Shipley adds large cities in Canada are more likely to have the right resources to thwart hacking attempts, while rural areas may not.

“If you’re fortunate to live in a big city — Calgary or Toronto or Halifax — there may be a police department who has some expertise to help you. Oftentimes, if you’re a smaller community or rural, they don’t have the skills to help.”

Shipley also says that it’s important to clear up any wrongdoing with the police right away if your account is hacked.

“Referring to police is never a bad idea. But they’re going to be able to offer limited assistance,” Shipley said. “What happens best with police accounts is that any particularly malicious crimes like this, or if there’s evidence of other crimes being committed from your account, getting it on the record with police that this is not you is probably a really good idea.”