February 16, 2021 CRA or Canada Revenue Agency has locked it’s online account – for more than 100,000 users. The reason is – users’ email address has been removed from their online account.
For those who are not familiar with CRA – “CRA or The Canada Revenue Agency is the revenue service of the Government of Canada. The CRA collects taxes, administers tax law and policy, and delivers benefit programs and tax credits for the federal government and most provincial and territorial governments”.
Affected user tried to call the customer service to get their accounts unlocked, but had to wait a long time – some even more than three hours. They did not receive any reasonable explanation from the help line. Worried users vent their frustration in social media platforms – saying they all encounter “error 021”.
February 17, 2021 CRA spokesperson Christopher Doody said in an email – “An internal analysis revealed evidence that some account credentials (i.e. user IDs and passwords) may have been compromised, and may be available for use by unauthorized individuals,”
Also assured that CRA not been the target of a cyberattack. But that affected the user’s credentials may have been breached from another online account.
Last year August 2020, CRA had a similar incident and they had to shuts down online services.The shutdown blocks Canadians from applying for some emergency COVID-19 benefits. User email addresses (one that is registered with CRA), direct deposit information was altered.
It seems like – attackers have been using the similar technique for each attack. And CRA is only “patching” their security protocols.