Data leak at Industrial Alliance

After Desjardins Group, it is Industrielle Alliance's turn in Quebec to be the victim of a data leak. The personal information of approximately 3,000 Quebec clients was exposed during the summer.

According to the insurer, the first phishing attempt occurred on June 20th. Two other similar ploys were made on July 8 and July 11.

In total, three representatives of the life insurance sales network of iA Financial Group in Quebec were phished. These would be three separate incidents that are in no way related to each other. An investigation was opened by the company. It is now completed. No complaints have been lodged with the police.

Management has, however, informed the Access to Information Commission and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) of the situation.

"In each incident, someone outside the organization managed to momentarily take control of a representative's mailboxes and was given the opportunity to access all of his emails," says the door. of the organization, Pierre Picard. "There is currently no indication that the data was used for malicious purposes or that it was sold to third parties," he says.

In recent weeks, the company has sent a letter to 2864 affected customers to inform them. Industrial Alliance apologizes and offers protection against identity theft for five years with the Equifax credit bureau.

The company has also set up a customer service to answer questions.

The information disclosed is primarily the name of the clients as well as information about their products held at iA Financial Group. For some people, the date of birth or bank details could also be affected. Social Insurance Numbers (129) could also be compromised.

Security measures

Industrial Alliance says it has reviewed some of its security measures since these incidents, particularly to reduce the risk of phishing.

According to our information, this is not the first time that the Quebec insurer is the target of fraudsters. Other attempts, however, targeted fewer people.

Since the beginning of the summer, Desjardins Group, Revenu Québec and Capital One have also been in the news as a result of data leaks.

Founded in 1892, iA Financial Group now has more than 4 million customers in Canada and the United States. The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. His action (IAG) was worth about $ 58 on Wednesday.