Fort St. John and Dawson Creek library patrons’ data taken in breach

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Library patrons in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek are being advised that some of their email addresses and phone numbers were part of a leak.

According to statements from both the Fort St. John and Dawson Creek Public Libraries, log files from the libraries’ servers were obtained by a hacker after a “privacy breach” on April 25th.

Those log files contained the email addresses of people who received automated messages from the library, such as checkout and overdue notices, and the phone numbers of people who received those messages via SMS between March 27th and April 19th.

The hacker also targeted other libraries in places like the Cariboo Regional District and contacted the BC Libraries Cooperative, demanding ransom money and threatening to release the information if they weren’t paid.

The hack is the latest in a series of cybersecurity incidents, including a breach that has shut down London Drugs stores since Sunday, and attacks on other libraries, including the Toronto Public Library, last October.

“The content of the notifications was NOT leaked,” both libraries stress in their releases. 

“The leaked data does not say what the notifications were about, and it does NOT reveal any other information about patrons or their library use, such as checkouts and holds.”

Both libraries say the most likely outcome of the privacy breach is the information being used to generate spam and phishing messages.

They also say it increases the likelihood of “spear phishing” messages, a kind of phishing where the perpetrator impersonates someone the victim knows.

Both stress that they will never reach out to patrons asking for sensitive information, such as social insurance numbers, banking details, or money.

Patrons are advised to contact the libraries directly if they receive any suspicious messages and want to verify whether they’re real.

The Fort St. John Public Library can be reached at 250-785-3731, and the Dawson Creek Public Library can be reached at 250-782-4661.

With files from the Canadian Press