2007 Annual Report of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, today tabled her 2007 Annual Report in Parliament:

"The year 2007 will no doubt be remembered in the privacy world as the year of the data breach."

"The size of some of the data spills reported around the globe was staggering: An estimated 94 million credit and debit cards were exposed when hackers broke into the system at TJX Companies Inc., the U.S. retail giant which owns Winners and HomeSense stores in Canada. In the United Kingdom, two computer discs holding the personal details of some 25 million child benefit recipients vanished. "

"Those were only the two most high-profile data security disasters. Scores of other major data breaches affecting millions of people around the world were also reported."

"Data breaches here in Canada kept our team extraordinarily busy in 2007."

"Of particular note, we investigated the TJX/Winners breach, as well as the disappearance of a hard drive containing the personal information of close to half a million clients of Talvest Mutual Funds, a subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)."

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is mandated by Parliament to act as an independent ombudsman, advocate and guardian of privacy and the protection of personal information rights of Canadians.