Halifax Water has decided to continue mailing paper bills to its customers as it deals with a recent privacy breach that impacted 16 accounts. The utility’s online billing portal has been offline since March due to the incident.

According to Halifax Water, an independent forensic investigation conducted by third-party cybersecurity experts revealed that a vulnerability in the third-party platform supporting the Customer Connect portal allowed an unauthorized party to access personal information associated with the 16 affected accounts. The utility emphasized that this incident was not a cyber attack on its core systems related to water and wastewater services.

The compromised information included customers’ names, email addresses, service or home addresses, account details, and security questions and answers. However, Halifax Water assured that no financial information was accessible or exposed during the breach.

The affected customers were notified by mail in June about the breach and were provided with guidance on necessary steps to take. Halifax Water CEO Kenda MacKenzie expressed regret over the situation and assured that the utility is actively investigating the matter to safeguard customers’ interests and address contractual and insurance concerns appropriately.

The utility reported that approximately 55,000 customers have online accounts through the portal. Halifax Water identified a vulnerability in the portal in November 2025 and promptly informed the vendor, Avertra. Although a patch was applied, a subsequent software update in January 2026 nullified the patch, leading to the re-exposure of the vulnerability.

In February, the utility’s customer care team received an email from an unknown party regarding the vulnerability, which was initially disregarded as spam. However, the issue was later escalated to the cybersecurity team after a follow-up email in March.

Halifax Water has since enhanced its cybersecurity measures, including expanded testing and training, to better respond to similar incidents in the future. The online portal remains offline as security assessments and restoration efforts are ongoing, with no specific timeline provided for its reactivation. In the meantime, paper bills will continue to be sent to customers via mail.