Major Canadian rental company warns tenants that hackers may have their banking info

Why are breaches happening so regularly? Security and privacy expert Claudiu Popa says criminals can use bots and programs to automatically look for vulnerabilities.

One of western Canada’s largest rental property companies is warning tenants about a cyber security breach it says was discovered earlier this year.

In a letter to tenants on Aug. 19, also published on its website, Mainstreet Equity Corporation says on it discovered a third party had gained access to a portion of its IT infrastructure on May 21.

“Upon discovering this, we immediately undertook countermeasures to prevent any further unauthorized activity,” the company said.

“We have also retained third-party cybersecurity experts to assist with containment, remediation and to conduct a forensic investigation and we are working with external legal counsel to ensure we meet our legal obligations.”

Mainstreet, which manages over 17,000 apartments in most major cities in western Canada, says an investigation revealed the incident may have impacted some personal information belonging to tenants or guarantors, including their names, date of birth, court applications and banking information.

“If you paid rent or a security deposit in your capacity as a roommate or guarantor of a primary renter between April 2023 to June 2024, your information may have been impacted.”

The company says it does not any have evidence that personal information breached in the incident has been used to commit fraud or identity theft.

“Upon learning of this incident, we moved quickly to respond to this incident with the assistance of third party cybersecurity experts. Our response to this incident includes ensuring the security of our systems as well as implementing enhanced security measures to better prevent an incident of this nature from reoccurring. We have also reported this incident to law enforcement and will be notifying the applicable privacy regulators."

In the letter to renters obtained by CTV News, the company says it’s working to improve the security of the personal information in its care.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are providing you with this letter to inform you of this incident, the steps we are taking to bolster the protection of personal information in our systems and steps you can take to protect your information, should you feel it necessary to do so," Mainstreet said.

But one Regina Mainstreet renter who contacted CTV News said they never received the disclosure letter, and they learned about the privacy breach from the news.

CTV News has contacted Mainstreet for comment and is waiting for a response.

In an effort to alleviate concerns, the company is offering tenants a complimentary 12-month subscription for identity theft and credit monitoring services through Equifax.