More Crime Stoppers chapters have shut down tip lines due to a hack that may have put the anonymity of their tipsters in jeopardy. Navigate360, the company behind the P3 software used by Crime Stoppers to collect tips since 2018, was targeted by hackers in March. Crime Stoppers has said they don’t know the full extent of the breach, but names may have been compromised. “Their identity going back 25 years is being made public, potentially,” James Popham, associate professor in the department of Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University, said. “There are going to be some significant risks that come along with that.” People who had left tips through Crime Stoppers are now worried about what comes next. “There’s a few challenges that come with having your personal identifiable information out there and available. At the first, as I mentioned, there’s the risk of people accessing it and using it for reprisal,” Popham said. “Second to that, there is the risk of the data being used against you. So, certainly a number of commentators on this subjects have suggested that there’s a true risk that people will face ransom situations because of the private information that they’ve shared.” In response, Crime Stoppers groups across the province have suspending their tip-taking abilities. Navigate360 is facing accusations that data was stored long after police thought it had been removed from the system. “Data that belongs to years ago and [that police] marked as deleted was not deleted,” Ali Dehghantanha, Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligences and a professor at the University of Guelph, said. “Which means the officers or whoever was on the frontline were just deleting the data, but the system provided by the vendor would just tick a box saying ‘It’s deleted,’ do not show it to the officer anymore, but it would be stored.” Dehghantnha said Crime Stoppers has the right to audit the vendor to see what information was being retained. “If they were not storing the data, if they kept their promises, the impact of the attack would not be as devastating as it is.” Guelph Wellington impact Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington (CSGW) announced they were no longer taking tips on Thursday. “Navigate360 has told us that 14,898 CSGW tips, dating from 1996 to 2025 were in the data taken by these hackers,” a news release from Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington (CSGW) said. “It has also found that there are 1,407 names contained in those stolen tips. Navigate360 has not told us whether those names belong to people who submitted tips and self-identified, people who were named as suspects in tips, or both.” CSGW also asked the National Anonymous Call Centre to cease accepting and processing any new information for the Guelph and Wellington areas, including phone calls and online submissions. In the meantime, CSGW is looking for a safer way to collect information and promised “stronger rules” will be put in place. “Any new partner will have to protect information more stringently, including deleting what isn’t required any longer and being transparent if something goes wrong,” they said. CSGW’s legal team is also involved. Their lawyers have been tasked with trying to get full disclosure from Navigate360 to understand what data was taken and how the breach happened. “We know this incident is difficult for many people. We will keep investigating and pressing for answers, and we commit to sharing those answers as soon as we can do so,” CSGW said. The Guelph Police Service said they learned of the hack in June and stopped promoting Crime Stoppers as a reporting option. Waterloo Region impact Waterloo Regional Crime Stoppers has also stopped taking tips. “We have requested that the platform service provider immediately disable the tip submission function while the matter is being assessed. At this time, there is no alternative platform available for the anonymous submission of tips,” the organization told CTV News via an emailed statement. The Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) said they also learned of the incident in June and stopped promoting Crime Stoppers in early July. “WRPS recognizes the serious concerns arising from recent reports regarding the scope and nature of the Navigate360 breach, and the importance of protecting the anonymity of individuals who have provided confidential information through Crime Stoppers. The safety of the public, those who provide tips and police personnel is WRPS’ primary concern,” WRPS said. How to submit tips While the Crime Stoppers tip lines are suspended, anyone who has information about a crime is urged to reach out to their local police service directly. Anyone who believes their life is in imminent danger should call 911.
