The Peterborough Police Service has joined a growing number of Ontario police services suspending their use of Crime Stoppers following revelations about a cybersecurity breach involving the program’s third-party tip-management system.
Peterborough police announced Friday (October 23) they are pausing use of the Peterborough & Northumberland Crime Stoppers online submission portal at stopcrimehere.ca and tip line at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) until the police service is satisfied a secure system is available.
The decision follows a CBC News investigation that found more than 1.5 million tips submitted to Canadian Crime Stoppers programs over the past 25 years were exposed in a breach involving P3 Global Intel’s tip-management platform owned by Navigate360, the company that provides tip-management software used by Crime Stoppers programs in Canada and the United States.
In March, a hacker breached P3 Global Intel’s infrastructure and stole roughly 93 gigabytes of data, containing an estimated eight million confidential tips. On Friday, Navigate360 confirmed the breach, stating that names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, and other sensitive information had potentially been exposed.
CBC reported that at least half of the tips submitted to Canadian Crime Stoppers programs contained some form of personal information and that information in some records was detailed enough for reporters to identify and contact tipsters.
Peterborough police said it is not yet known how many, if any, files involving cases within their jurisdiction were compromised. An investigation is underway to determine the extent of any local impact.
“This breach of data is concerning to our organization and upon learning of this breach, I immediately initiated a request of the extent, if any, to which tips provided to the Peterborough and Northumberland Crime Stoppers program, about cases in the jurisdiction of the Peterborough Police Service may have been compromised,” police chief Stuart Betts said in a media release.
“We value our relationship with the Peterborough and Northumberland Crime Stoppers program and will work closely with them to address any data breaches that impact our organization.”
According to the Peterborough police, the local Crime Stoppers chapter also serves Peterborough County OPP, Northumberland OPP, Cobourg Police Service, Port Hope Police Service, Curve Lake Police Service, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Canada Border Services Agency, and other partner agencies.
Peterborough Northumberland Crime Stoppers was formed in its current configuration in 1998, when the Peterborough and Northumberland chapters amalgamated. It operates as a registered non-profit charity with a volunteer board and acts as an intermediary between anonymous tipsters and police. Its tip system does not connect directly or indirectly with police service databases.
The security breach is particularly problematic as Crime Stoppers promotes online and telephone tips as being anonymous, saying calls are not recorded or traced and online tips are encrypted and transferred to law enforcement through third-party tip-management software.
The decision by Peterborough police to pause use of Crime Stoppers follows similar actions taken by several other police services in Ontario and across Canada.
Toronto Crime Stoppers paused its entire program after the breach became public, removing online tip submission and directing its vendor and the National Anonymous Call Centre to stop accepting new tips intended for the Toronto chapter.
The Toronto Police Service subsequently suspended its own use of Crime Stoppers while reviewing the breach and any additional security measures being implemented.
York Regional Police, Peel Regional Police, Halton Regional Police, Hamilton Police, Windsor Police, and Waterloo Regional Police have also announced suspensions, pauses, or other changes to their use of Crime Stoppers.
Waterloo Regional Police said it had stopped promoting Crime Stoppers as a reporting option in early July after learning in late June that the local program had been affected.
The police services have generally stressed that Crime Stoppers and its third-party technology operate separately from their own computer networks.
The Peterborough Police Service said its decision to pause use of the local program is being made “out of an abundance of caution” and is not a reflection of its confidence in Peterborough Northumberland Crime Stoppers.
Police said they will assess the potential effects on police operations and the privacy and safety of tipsters once more details about the breach become available.
In the meantime, people with information about crimes or public safety concerns in the Peterborough Police Service’s jurisdiction are being asked to contact police directly.
A new police tip line is available at 705-876-1122 ext. 388. Police warn that while they will work to keep a caller’s identity private, anonymity cannot be guaranteed.
Tips can also be emailed to tips@peterboroughpolice.ca. Police advise anyone who wants to protect their identity to avoid sending from an email address that contains their name, and not to provide their name, address, phone number, email address, location, relationship to the people involved, or information about how they learned of the alleged crime in the body of the email. Photos, videos, and other files should not be attached.
“Only describe the crime, what happened, when and where it happened, and who was involved,” the police state. “If you include personal details, we may not be able to protect your identity. We will work to keep your identity private, but we cannot guarantee anonymity and we may have to share tips if the law requires it.”
Peterborough police stressed that its telephone and email tip options are operated by the police service and are not part of Crime Stoppers.
For emergencies or crimes in progress, residents should continue to call 9-1-1.
