Small and medium-sized business owners who applied for BC's Business Recovery Grant Program are worried their privacy has been breached after a bulk email with all their contact
One of the recipients, who spoke to CFAX on condition of anonymity, is alarmed, and says recipients are expressing concern about a possible breach of private and financial information:
" I just can't image an employer, the software they are using to allow them to just bulk email someone like that. It just seems very unprofessional. So we are really concerned there's something else going on."
He says many are also angry their identities have been shared with others:
" There's probably some people on there that are competitors to some of the other people on there, or, you know we don't know. Did they send this to someone else, was this just one of many batches of these emails that went out, like we don't know. Some competitors could find out, or whatever, and go "oh maybe these guys aren't in the position we thought" you know. There's just a million things going through everyone's head here."
The business owner says while he really needs the funding, he is afraid to send any more personal information to apply for the grant.
The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness responded to a request for comment with a statement, saying they are deeply sorry for any inconvenience or concern caused, adding they take privacy seriously.
The statement says a government employee sent an email to 280 applicants outlining basic program information, and regrettably the addresses were not hidden -- therefore inadvertently shared with other applicants.
The ministry assure no other personal or financial information is at risk, and measures are now in place to ensure it can't happen again.
The office of the Privacy Commissioner says they have not been notified of a breach.