Town Of LaSalle Suffers Privacy Breach

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The Town of LaSalle’s Department of Culture and Recreation reports that they recently experienced a privacy breach in the registration software system.

The Culture and Recreation Department became aware of the issue when two residents advised staff that they were able to view personal information of another individual while logged into the online registration system. Information that was accessed included the name of the account holder, address, phone number, names of the children, their dates of birth, programs they had registered for, as well as emergency contact information.

No financial information is stored in this system, therefore, no financial information was accessed.

In mid-November, online registration was launched for programs offered by the Culture and Recreation Department. Residents were notified through flyers, email blasts, website and social media that they could set-up online accounts to register for programs. That system was shut-down on December 8 when staff became aware of the privacy issue.

There were about 140 accounts in the new software system, and it is unknown how many of those user accounts may have been accessed.

Town officials say that the breach has been reported by them to the Information and Privacy Commission of Ontario, who have been advising the town how to proceed, beginning with notification to those individuals whose privacy may have been breached.

Letters are being mailed to all those potentially affected.

The online registration system will remain offline until the software company can ensure town officials that this will not happen again.

Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact the Town of LaSalle’s Clerks Department at 519-969-7770, ext. 1223, 1233 or 1256.