Equifax takes down customer service web page after reports of new hack
DAVID HODGES
THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Equifax Canada says its U.S. parent company’s website has temporarily taken down one of its customer services pages amid reports that another part of its website had been hacked.
Company spokesman Tom Carroll did not respond to direct questions about any potential breach to Equifax Canada’s website or the number of Canadian or American Equifax customers that may have been affected.
Carroll said in an e-mailed statement that, “We are aware of the situation identified on the equifax. com website in the credit report assistance link.”
“Our IT and security teams are looking into this matter, and out of an abundance of caution have temporarily taken this page offline,” his statement added.
“When it becomes available or we have more information to share, we will.”
The news comes as Equifax Inc. continues to deal with the aftermath of a cyber breach earlier this year which allowed the personal information of 145.5 million Americans, and 8,000 Canadians, to be accessed or stolen.
In the latest cybersecurity incident, hackers reportedly altered Equifax’s credit report assistance page so that it would send users malicious software disguised as Adobe Flash.
Since news of Equifax’s massive data breach broke last month, the company is facing investigations in Canada and the U.S., as well as at least two proposed class actions filed in Canada.
The massive data breach has also led to a number of high-profile departures at the Atlanta-based consumer credit reporting agency, including its chief executive, chief information officer and chief security officer.
In early October, Equifax revised the number of consumers potentially impacted in the breach — bumping up the total in the U.S. to 145.5 million and reducing the number in Canada from an estimated 100,000 to 8,000.
For these Canadian consumers, Equifax says the information that may have been accessed includes name, address, social insurance number and, in “limited cases” credit card numbers. On its website, Equifax’s Canadian division says it has not yet mailed out any notices and made clear it would not be making any unsolicited calls or e-mails about the issue.
BOB WEBER
THE CANADIAN PRESS
It’s official. Google Street View has now gone to the ends of the Earth.
As part of a deal with Parks Canada, the internet giant is now showcasing Street View images of one of the remotest places on the planet — Quttinirpaaq National Park on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island.
“We want people to care about the places that we protect,” said Emma Upton, who manages the park. “Bringing it into people’s homes seemed a really good idea. “It is a difficult place to reach.” That is an understatement. Only a tiny sliver at Greenland’s apex reaches further north.
To reach Quttinirpaaq (pronounced kih-TURN-ih-pak), you first fly to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. Your next flight takes you to Resolute on Cornwallis Island. Then you must hire a Twin Otter to fly to the park, where there are no communities, no services, no nothing.
It takes days and thousands of dollars. Fewer than 25 souls manage it each year.
For those intrepid travellers, however, the rewards are rich.
“It’s a place where we can still find true solitude and we can still experience real silence,” said Upton. “You can hike for days and you will not see a single jet flying over you. You will hear the wind in your ears and a few birds and the water rushing.”
Mountains, glaciers clinging to their sides, soar thousands of metres from icy seas. Rivers carve through rugged valleys past gentle hills.
“I could read the landscape like an open book,” said Upton.
Wildlife includes herds of muskox, Arctic fox, wolves and 10-kg Arctic hares. Gyrfalcons and owls slice the skies.
Parks Canada staff were trained in the use of Google trekker cameras and spent July 2016 carrying them around the park as part of their regular work, said Upton.
“The camera itself is a very sturdy piece of equipment. It can be mounted on Ski-Doos, ATVs, on boats. In the case of a lot of our visits to national parks, it was actually a person carrying the Google trekker on their back.”
Parks Canada is trying to make Quttinirpaaq a little more accessible. Once a year, the agency charters a Twin Otter from Resolute and sells eight or nine return seats to the public, price available upon request.
Or you could volunteer to cook for park staff.
Most people will have to rely on a high-definition monitor for the view and their imagination for the light, the wind, the silence.
“It’s quite special to me that we still have places in the world that we can have that,” said Upton