As Ukrinform reporter reported, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Cyber ​​Security and Digital Services Colton LeBlanc expressed this at a press conference in Halifax.

“One hundred thousand residents of Nova Scotia are affected: current and former healthcare workers, the children’s hospital in Halifax, and state officials. We still have some work to do, and that number may increase or decrease over that time,” LeBlanc said.

According to him, cybercriminals gained access to payroll data, including bank details, home addresses, and government social security numbers.

The breach came as part of a global attack on the MOVEit platform, where attackers managed to access the data of at least 100,000 British workers.

The “Clop” group claimed responsibility for the attack, threatening to release all data next week if it does not receive ransom. Cybersecurity experts have long followed the activities of the Clop group, which is believed to be based in Russia as it operates predominantly in Russian-language forums.

Moscow has long been accused of being a safe haven for ransomware gangs.

In 2021, hackers allegedly belonging to the Clop group were detained in Ukraine as part of a joint operation by law enforcement agencies from Ukraine, the USA and South Korea.