Lawyer Jonathan Penney writes:
Another day, another hack. Apple, Sony, Citigroup, and Lockheed Martin are just some of the big-name companies afflicted by recent cyber-security breaches. Canada has not been spared. Beyond the attacks on the federal Treasury and Finance Departments, Sony, Husky Energy, and Honda have all had Canadian branches or units compromised in recent hacks. Even major Canadian law firms have been victimized.
Expectedly, privacy concerns are being raised about the massive amounts of personal and financial information that these, and other, companies hold, and about the data safeguards – or lack thereof – rendering that data vulnerable to theft and exploitation.
Despite these real public concerns, a troubling trend is emerging – a tendency for companies to sit on information about hacks and data breaches, sometimes for weeks, before going public, and to, even then, downplay the severity and scope of the breach.
Read more on The Mark.