EDITORIAL – Paying ransom to LifeLabs hackers might encourage future attacks
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An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
LIFELABS REVEALED YESTERDAY that information on 15 million customers was hacked in late October, mostly in Ontario and B.C.
Given the massive number of files, it’s safe to say thousands of them probably belong to Kamloops residents.
I called the number provided by LifeLabs and was told those files go as far back as 10 years.
However, they couldn’t tell me if any of my files were among those stolen. They’d only be able to tell me that if my personal information was published by the hacker.
That’s not very comforting. The first thing we do in such a situation is to look for somebody to blame and the obvious first choice here is LifeLabs.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He writes five commentaries a week for CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
Technology can be great but sometimes one might wonder about things that can happen.
So, can medical records now be switched to a different person’s name once they have been stolen like this? I’d hate to find out I couldn’t get life insurance because someone found out I was actually a person who had HIV and was lying about it.
Mel, I didn’t realize that you had a gender change 40 years ago………….. as a possible example.
I have had a tough time explaining to the young 20-something teller in person at the bank when I say I am reluctant to make the change to on-line banking.
The authorities are very cleaver in finding out what the commies are up to…I am therefore sure they can also find out who the hackers are and where they come from…if they try.