Data Security Incident

Updated on June 29 at 9:00 a.m. 

Entering Information into Equifax’s Online Credit Monitoring System

We understand that some of you impacted by the recent data incident may be cautious about entering personal or financial information online, particularly after being advised to remain alert for suspicious emails, links, calls, or requests for information.

London Hydro is offering eligible affected individuals access to credit monitoring services administered by Equifax. Activation instructions, including the unique activation code and support information, were provided directly to eligible individuals in their notice.

You should use only the activation instructions provided directly in your notice. If you are unsure whether a communication is legitimate, contact London Hydro using contact information from our official www.londonhydro.com website before clicking links or providing personal information.

London Hydro does not collect, receive, or have access to information entered by individuals through Equifax’s activation platform. This information remains in their system.

Entering all requested information is not mandatory to complete activation. However, choosing not to provide certain optional information may limit the scope of monitoring. Example: dark web monitoring alerts are based on personal information provided by the individual or otherwise available to Equifax.

Affected individuals who need help activating their Equifax Complete Premier service should use the Equifax technical support information provided in their notice.

The following resources may help affected individuals better understand credit monitoring and credit reports:

Equifax Canada — Contact Us
 https://www.equifax.ca/personal/contact-us/

Government of Canada — Getting your credit report and credit score
https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/credit-reports-score/order-credit-report.html

Updated on June 26 at 4:00 p.m.

London Hydro continues to work with authorities on this incident and to connect with those whose information may have been affected. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we gathered the information needed to provide you with this update. 

Affected individuals should watch for official communications from London Hydro by email or mail with more information and supports available, including credit monitoring. 

As a reminder, this incident did not impact financial or government identification information, such as your date of birth, government identification numbers, payment card details, or banking information.

Incident Details

Last week, we became aware of unusual account activity on our website portal. We immediately launched a full internal investigation into this matter. Our investigation determined that a technical issue with our portal allowed certain data belonging to some customers to be accessed and downloaded by an unauthorized third party. Specifically, our investigation determined that the information accessed may have included the following:

• Contact Information (including full name, email, mailing address, and phone number); and
• Account Information (including London Hydro account number, service address, pricing plan, contract start date, meter number, and meter type).
   

What We’ve Done

On the same day that the incident was detected by us, we launched a comprehensive investigation, and identified and corrected the technical issue giving rise to the incident to prevent further unauthorized access to customer data. We have also reported this matter to local law enforcement and engaged external IT forensics experts for a further independent review.

What You Can Do

Because this incident did not involve passwords, we are not asking customers to reset their London Hydro passwords in connection with this incident. As always, you should use a strong, unique password.

You can protect yourself by remaining alert for any suspicious messages related to your account or personal information, such as unexpected bills, unfamiliar account activity, instructions to change how you make payments, or unusual emails, phone calls, or SMS messages claiming to be from London Hydro. If you receive a suspicious message, please report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at https://reportcyberandfraud.canada.ca or 1-888-495-8501.

Please remember that we will never ask customers to send banking information or payment card numbers by email or SMS. Any account or payment updates by phone will only occur if initiated by you and after you have been authenticated. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our dedicated customer support team at 519-661-5503 or privacy@londonhydro.com.

Updated on June 20 at 7:00 p.m.

London Hydro and the appropriate authorities are currently investigating a data security incident which may have impacted a portion of personal information on some accounts.

We are in the process of contacting impacted customers. The potentially impacted information is limited to the following:

• Contact Information (full name, address, email address, and/or phone number); and/or
• Account Information (account/billing number, service address, pricing plan, contract start date, meter number, and/or meter type).

The incident did not involve access to financial information or other sensitive categories of information, such as your date of birth, government identification numbers, payment card details, or banking information.

Please continue to use this website for updates. We will provide updates as soon as we are able to share more information.

Please remain alert for any suspicious activity related to your account or personal information, such as:

• unexpected bills;
• unfamiliar account activity;
• instructions to change the process for remitting payment; or
• unusual emails, phone calls, or SMS messages claiming to be from London Hydro.

London Hydro does not request banking details or other sensitive information from customers over email, phone, or SMS. Please exercise caution before clicking on any links in communications or responding to any communications that seem suspicious.

If you receive a suspicious message, please report it to privacy@londonhydro.com