The City of Pitt Meadows was notified on Tuesday that there was a data breach concerning users of My Waste, an app some residents use for garbage reminders and recycling information.
This only includes users who opted in to receive marketing emails and updates from Recycle Coach and My Waste, not all users, said the city.
Recycle Coach, the company who develops My Waste, has notified all users about the breach and is taking steps to ensure tighter security of user information.
“Please note that while the app includes the city’s logo for Pitt Meadows users, the city does not manage data stored by the app. If you are affected and have questions about this breach, please contact Recycle Coach at contact@recyclecoach.com.”
Some tips for staying safe after your online data has been compromised:
• never click links within emails you don’t recognize.
Creighton Hooper, president Municipal Media Inc., said to users of My Waste that the company is following up to provide more information regarding the Recycle Coach and My Waste email addresses that were stolen from its MailChimp account earlier this week.
“Approximately 55,000 email addresses were stolen from our MailChimp account on Monday, April 16 around 6:15 p.m. ET. The list contained subscriber email addresses only – no names, no location (not even country), and no passwords.
“The list was created by us from our subscriber data in December 2017 and was uploaded to MailChimp so we could inform residents that they are now able to get ‘What Goes Where’ information through digital assistants (Alexa and Google Assistant). The perpetrator got access to MailChimp when one of our employees email accounts was hacked.
“We notified the affected subscribers of the breach yesterday evening. We heard back from a few residents, most helpfully forwarded the spam messages they received. Four subscribers have asked to have their email addresses removed from our system and we’ve completed these requests. Others have reached out to let us know how much they like our service.
“We take security very seriously and have tightened our procedures to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. Our apologies and thank you for understanding.
“Please let us know if you have any additional questions.”
• Toll-Free phone: 1-855-343-3363, ext. 112, or email chooper@recyclecoach.com.