Some CRA online services remain unavailable a month after cyberattacks

Sep 24, 2020 | 9:06 AM

The Canada Revenue Agency won’t say when it expects its website to return to normal.

In August, the federal tax collection agency took its website offline after it suffered two cyberattacks, and some online services still remain unavailable.

The affected services include the ability for individuals to make address changes and manage direct deposits.

The CRA says it’s still conducting a forensic analysis related to the attacks, which may have affected almost 50,000 accounts.

Jose Manuel Fernandez, who teaches about online security at Montreal’s Polytechnique university, says that like the yellow police tape around a crime scene, it’s common to limit access to online services during an investigation.

The CRA says one thing that’s not affecting its ability to restore those services is the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that many of its employees are working from home.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2020.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship. 

The Canadian Press