Halifax Water customers will still receive paper bills as the utility addresses a recent privacy breach involving 16 accounts. The customer portal for accessing bills has been offline since March due to a vulnerability in the third-party platform. This allowed an external party to access personal information such as names, email addresses, and account details. However, the utility clarified that it was not a cybersecurity attack on their systems and did not affect their water services.
The affected customers were notified in June, and Halifax Water is working to understand the situation fully and ensure customer protection. The utility has enhanced its cybersecurity measures and is conducting further testing to prevent similar incidents in the future. The timeline of the incident revealed that a vulnerability was identified in the portal in November 2025 and was reported to the vendor. Although a patch was implemented, a software update in January 2026 exposed the vulnerability again.
Despite fixing the original issue, additional vulnerabilities were discovered, and the portal remains offline until it can be securely restored. Halifax Water has not set a restoration date yet but continues to send bills by mail in the meantime. CEO Kenda MacKenzie expressed regret over the situation and assured customers that steps are being taken to address the breach and protect their interests.
In an effort to improve response to such vulnerabilities, Halifax Water has expanded its cybersecurity training and processes for handling third-party reports. The utility is committed to providing more updates once a restoration timeline is confirmed.