The City of Ottawa disclosed a data breach affecting users of its My ServiceOttawa portal, an online platform for residents to access municipal services. While specifics on the compromised data were not fully detailed, the incident involved unauthorized access to user accounts, potentially exposing personal information linked to service requests, payments, or account profiles. The breach did not explicitly mention large-scale financial fraud, ransomware demands, or systemic disruptions to critical infrastructure. However, the exposure of municipal service users' data—even if limited—raises concerns about privacy violations and potential misuse of personal details (e.g., names, contact information, or service history). The city likely initiated investigations and mitigation measures, such as notifying affected individuals and reinforcing cybersecurity protocols. The incident underscores vulnerabilities in government digital services, where even localized breaches can erode public trust in institutional data protection.

The City of Ottawa experienced a data breach on its My ServiceOttawa online portal, exposing the email and physical addresses of approximately 2,454 users. The incident occurred on October 3 due to an isolated system error in the service request lookup tool, which allowed an unauthorized user to exploit a bot to access service requests linked to other accounts. No financial, password, or highly sensitive personal information was compromised. The city detected the breach promptly, blocked the unauthorized user, and conducted a thorough analysis to confirm the limited scope of exposure. Affected individuals were notified, and additional security measures were implemented to prevent recurrence. The city emphasized that the incident was contained to the lookup tool and that My ServiceOttawa itself remained secure.