Anglais

‘Ransomware’ attack hits business that sells Ontario residents’ data

Published

5 années ago

novembre 3, 2018

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A “ransomware” attack has hit a Toronto company that resells sensitive personal and business data collected by the Ontario government.

Pay up or we will not return access, the attackers told ESC Corporate Services on Oct. 25.

No payment has been made and the company was locked out of its system for more than a week. The ESC system interfaces with the Government of Ontario records portal. If you have ever incorporated a company or leased a car, that is the data at issue, the Star has found.

“The request was for a payment in exchange for keys to decrypt encrypted files,” said ESC spokesman Shea Haverstock, who confirmed the attack to the Star. He said ESC is conducting a “forensic” analysis and has not contacted police.

A provincial government spokesperson said the province is aware of the attack and is monitoring the situation. In the wake of what happened to ESC, the government services ministry is working on “enhancing its current cybersecurity practices.”

During the reporting of this story, ESC posted a note on its website saying the “outage” it was dealing with had been resolved. No details were provided as to what happened.

Both the province and ESC said they do not believe the data was compromised, but did not explain to the Star how this was determined.

At risk in the attack were the millions of bits of data related to individuals and businesses that the Ontario government collects. The province licenses ESC and two other companies to resell the information to law firms, banks and other institutions, and the public at a profit. The terms of contracts are not made public but these companies sell access to such things as corporate and lien searches for roughly $100 per search.

Among the information resold and subject of this attack were corporation records, including names and home addresses of directors, and the registration of liens for automobile, boat and equipment leases. In addition to the search services the three companies provide, consumers and business owners use the portals to register new information and updates, which the licensed companies input into the government’s system.

Since the information is available for a fee it is not technically private data, although having access to the information in bulk — for example, names and addresses of all company board members or leaseholder and financial details on cars and trucks — would be attractive to hackers who could use it to mount other attacks.

Here’s what happened:

At 4 a.m. on Oct. 25, the ESC web portal went down. When the business day began, thousands of customers and institutions, many of them law firms, that use ESC on a daily basis were suddenly unable to access any information.

At the ESC head offices at King and Yonge Sts. in Toronto, top executives huddled. A security expert was called in and determined that a “malware” program had been uploaded into their system. Malware programs are created by hackers and typically disable computer systems infected by the program.

“We experienced a malware incident, as many companies do,” said Haverstock. He said the malware “was designed to encrypt files for the purposes of a ransom request.” He would not reveal the amount of money required or how it was to be paid.

Ransomware attacks frequently come with a request to pay in bitcoin, security experts have told the Star.

With its system inoperable, ESC posted a note on its website saying the company had a “systems outage,” but not revealing why. Haverstock said his company briefed “institutional” customers, but he would not share those briefings.

He said ESC has hired “third-party experts” to look into what happened and to rebuild the hacked system.

Haverstock also said ESC has “no reason to believe that any data was compromised,” and that the “incident affected ESC’s eService platform” and not individual records.

He said that ESC is not the “custodian” of the data it sells and, “as such, none of those records could be affected.”

The ESC system came back online on Friday afternoon with a “welcome back” notice posted on its website. A note from the new company president, Clare Colledge made no reference to a ransomware attack. It described the incident as an “system outage,” apologized to customers and offered them the option of switching to a new “cloud-based” platform that had been used during the outage.

The two other Ontario companies licensed to provide the search services, Cyberbahn and Oncorp Direct, were not hit by the attack. Sources with knowledge of those companies said they have experienced an increase in business since ESC’s search function went down.

Despite the widespread effect on businesses, the provincial government did not publicized the problem.

Harry Malhi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, said in an email that a preliminary analysis provided to the ministry by ESC “indicates that there was no security risk related to services the ministry offers.”

Asked Friday afternoon whether the government had confirmed that analysis independently, Malhi referred the Star back to ESC.

Sources within the industry have told the Star that provincial bureaucrats have for several years been working on a plan to bring the management and sale of all of this data back in-house, where it was kept before the province outsourced it two decades ago.

“At this time we have not reported the incident to police,” Haverstock said. “We will assess the need to report once we have received the results of the forensic assessment.”

Kevin Donovan can be reached at (416) 312-3503 or kdonovan@thestar.ca. Follow him on twitter @_kevindonovan

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Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

Published

3 années ago

août 10, 2021

admin

Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline.

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors.

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity.

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement.

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level.

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet.

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

admin

In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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Anglais

MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

admin

MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.