Science World hit by cybersecurity breach, stresses low-risk for customers

British Columbia’s premier science centre has warned its members that the organization was recently involved in a cybersecurity attack.

In an email sent out to its customers, Science World CEO Tracy Redies said at the beginning of this month it was notified by its email service partner, WordFly, of a cybersecurity issue that involved some of the company’s data.

Redies wrote WordFly confirmed the data breach is “low risk as it did not involve any sensitive data such as credit card or payment information.”

“Following our knowledge of the breach, we immediately launched our own investigation and wanted to inform those that may be impacted by this incident about this situation and the steps we are taking to ensure the greatest possible level of data security.”

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Beginning July 10, WordFly was subjected to a ransomware attack which saw its data exported to an external location.

According to Redies, four days later, Science World, along with other organizations who also use the third-party service, received notice from WordFly letting them know the incident had taken place.

“In this statement, they said this data primarily included names and email addresses,” Redies wrote.

“We would like to reassure you that: The incident did not happen at our facility and did not specifically target Science World or our data systems, [and] our organization uses WordFly primarily to communicate information with stakeholders, while names and email addresses were included in the data, stakeholder financial data (including credit card details) was not compromised.

“On behalf of our organization, I sincerely apologize for any concern this may cause you. Please be assured that we take data protection and the trust you put in us very seriously and are grateful for your continued support and engagement.”

Redies asks that anyone with further questions about the incident to reach out to communications@scienceworld.ca.