The Weather Network says its systems have been impacted by a “cybersecurity incident” that took down its website and mobile application, the latest breach in a series of hacks that have hit Canadian organizations recently.
Users first noticed an interruption in services on Monday. The Weather Network and its French equivalent, MétéoMédia, described this as a “system outage” in social media posts on Tuesday morning.
The network’s services were still partly offline as of Tuesday evening. The outage left The Globe and Mail unable to publish the weather forecast in Wednesday’s newspaper.
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On Tuesday evening, network spokesperson Ryan McKenna said in a statement to The Globe that the interruption was a cybersecurity incident “connected to a third-party software provider” that worked with Pelmorex Corp., the Oakville, Ont.-based company that owns The Weather Network and MétéoMédia.
Mr. McKenna would not name the third-party provider or provide further information about the nature of the breach.
The incident has impacted only weather data systems, the statement said. Alert Ready, which is operated by Pelmorex and is Canada’s national warning system for emergencies such as child abductions, continues to “work as intended,” according to the statement.
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this incident may have caused,” the statement said, adding users can expect some services to resume shortly with “full restoration as soon as possible.” A clear timeline was not provided.
An investigation into the breach is continuing. Authorities have been notified about the incident and Pelmorex has engaged cybersecurity experts, the statement said. Mr. McKenna did not answer a question about which authorities the company had contacted.
Public and private companies across Canada continue to be affected by cyberattacks and data breaches, which the RCMP and the Communications Security Establishment warned late last month are threatening the country’s national security and economic prosperity.
Over the past year, the Prime Minister’s Office, grocery giant Empire Co. Ltd., Indigo Books & Music Inc., Vancouver’s transit police, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and many others have been struck by hackers.
But industry experts say organizations are not investing nearly as much as they should be toward cybersecurity. Federal cybersecurity legislation meant to protect Canada’s critical services has languished in early reading stages since 2021, even as these incidents have increased sharply.
Temur Durrani