The names, addresses, email addresses and employer names for more than 329,000 subscribers receiving CPA Magazine – a publication of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) – were exposed to hackers in a recent “data security incident” affecting personal information held by the organization.

CPA Canada announced June 4 that it has since taken steps, with the assistance of cyber security experts, to secure its systems and conduct a comprehensive analysis to determine what information may have been involved.

Safeguarding the information in our care is one of our most important responsibilities,” says CPA Canada president and CEO, Joy Thomas. “We immediately took steps to contain the incident and secure our systems.”

The organization, in notifying individuals about the breach, is encouraging those affected to remain vigilant about any emails they may receive, particularly those which ask them to click on links or attachments, or provide sensitive information, even if the emails appear to come from CPA Canada or individuals or organizations they trust.

In addition to notifying those affected, CPA Canada says it has been in contact with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and other privacy authorities. Provincial and regional CPA partners who operate their own independent websites, portals and systems, have not been affected. CPA Canada also says in cases where passwords or full credit card numbers were affected, all were protected by encryption.