Wednesday, April 8, 2026
ADVT 
International

Privacy Experts Say Canadians Need Better Training On Internet Security

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Aug, 2015 12:35 PM
    MONTREAL — The ongoing fallout of the Ashley Madison data breach has highlighted the pitfalls of using work email addresses for personal use.
     
    The Toronto-based dating website, which promotes and facilitates extramarital affairs, was the victim of a recent cyberattack, with the personal information of millions of its users released publicly.
     
    Hundreds of email addresses in the data release appear to be connected to federal, provincial and municipal workers across Canada, as well as to the RCMP and the military.
     
    Karen Eltis, an online privacy expert and law professor at the University of Ottawa, says the cyberattack shows that employees across the country — and many who work in government — are in dire need of Internet privacy training.
     
    "It may seem obvious but to many it's not obvious," she said in an interview. "The web is not the Wild, Wild West and anonymity online is illusory."
     
    More than 630 email addresses used to sign up on ashleymadison.com end in gc.ca, which is the standard ending for emails used by employees of most federal government departments.
     
    Moreover, research into the leaked files shows that 35 credit-card transactions on the site — by 10 different people — were conducted using House of Commons or Senate IP Internet addresses.
     
    More than 75 credit-card transactions were conducted by 48 people on IP addresses linked to the Department of National Defence, the leaked files reveal.
     
    Eltis said the hack demonstrates that employers across the country need to better train workers on how to ensure companies aren't embarrassed — or worse, blackmailed — when this kind of data breach occurs.
     
    "Online privacy awareness training is crucial to protect not only the employees but the employers' reputation," she said.
     
    "It may not say something about the company but it's about the perception that is attributed to the company."
     
    At least one government agency has already instituted mandatory Internet privacy training as a result of data breaches.
     
    In 2014, Canada's cryptologic agency, Communications Security Establishment, learned that the data of several of its workers had been compromised. It forced all employees to take a training course on how to protect digital information.
     
    Prof. Teresa Scassa, another University of Ottawa law professor, said more and more employers are paying attention to training employees about basic understanding of Internet privacy issues.
     
    "But the flip side is that employers have the obligation to protect the personal information that they have," she said.
     
    "Probably none of these individuals expected this to come out as public, they made the mistake that so many of us do — to trust their personal information to a company."
     
    Scassa also warned that the emails used to sign up to Ashley Madison weren't verified, meaning many of the government email addresses in the company's system might have been used by people who did not own them.
     
    "There does seem to be some levels of naivete from people not thinking through all the consequences (of using work emails) and learning these things the hard way."

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Search On For Missing Good Samaritan Indian Techie Knocked Into Brazos River By Texas Drunken Driver

    Search On For Missing Good Samaritan Indian Techie Knocked Into Brazos River By Texas Drunken Driver
    Puneet Nehra, 43, a resident of Sugarland suburb and originally from Noida, Uttar Pradesh, went missing after an accident shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday on the Grand Parkway northbound on the Brazos river in Fort Bend county.

    Search On For Missing Good Samaritan Indian Techie Knocked Into Brazos River By Texas Drunken Driver

    British Leaders Eye Indian-Origin Voters

    As the campaigning for the British parliamentary election enters its final phase, Prime Minister David Cameron and other leaders are eyeing undecided voters, especially among the 700,000 strong community of Indian origin.

    British Leaders Eye Indian-Origin Voters

    Charlie Hebdo Receives Pen Literary Award

    Charlie Hebdo Receives Pen Literary Award
    The PEN literary award celebrating freedom of speech was given this year to satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in New York, amidst high security and highly divided opinions within the organisation.

    Charlie Hebdo Receives Pen Literary Award

    Indian-Origin Woman Mradulaben Patel Killed In Gas Station Robbery In South Carolina

    Indian-Origin Woman Mradulaben Patel Killed In Gas Station Robbery In South Carolina
    An Indian-origin woman gas station attendant in South Carolina, who was shot in the face and left in a critical condition, has died two days after the robbery attempt, according to media reports.

    Indian-Origin Woman Mradulaben Patel Killed In Gas Station Robbery In South Carolina

    Five Beheaded In Saudi Arabia For Indian's Murder

    Five Beheaded In Saudi Arabia For Indian's Murder
    Five people were beheaded in Saudi Arabia for killing an Indian during an armed robbery, the interior ministry announced on Monday.

    Five Beheaded In Saudi Arabia For Indian's Murder

    Indian Jailed For Killing Co-worker In Dubai

    Indian Jailed For Killing Co-worker In Dubai
    An Indian man, who kicked his co-worker on his head resulting in immediate death during a druken brawl, has been jailed for five years in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    Indian Jailed For Killing Co-worker In Dubai