Kingston Police concludes investigation into their data breach

Provincial offense notices, driver's license information, and court appearances were some of the 160 GB of data that was stolen during a cyber attack in January 2025.

Kingston Police have concluded their internal investigation into a cyber attack that occurred at the start of 2025.

Investigators say a hacker used compromised account credentials to access the police system through the VPN application on January 1, 2025. Police then shutdown the system but not before the hacker was able to extract 160 GB of data comprised of 345,000 documents.

They say they were not able to determine how the credentials were obtained but were able to engage with the hacker who agreed to delete the stolen data. That data had information on criminal courts, provincial offense notices, bail hearings, spreadsheets, driver's licenses, and more.

Investigators say they along with OPP's cybersecurity unit and police forces around the world have been monitoring the dark web and have seen none of the compromised data. 

They say anyone who made court appearances between 2009 and 2024, received a provincial offense notice between 2012 and 2024, appeared on a bail hearing list, interacted with a Kingston Police officer, are a current or former Kingston Police officers, or submitted personal information to Kingston Police between 2009 and 2024 may be affected by the breach.

Investigators say while the information in the data breach is not likely to be misused, they do suggest people keep an eye on bank accounts, credit cards, and governmental agencies for any irregularities.

Story by Ken Hashizume