Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington has paused their tip-taking abilities in light of a breach. In a news release on Thursday, the organization said hackers stole data from P3, the software used to collect tips for Crime Stoppers since 2018. P3 is owned by Navigate 360. “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.” The breach reportedly happened back in March. “In April, [Navigat306] told us our data had not been taken. We were repeatedly assured that Canadian data had not been part of this data theft. In June, we were advised by Navigate360 that our data was impacted. To date, we have still not seen the text of the stolen tips,” the CSGW release said. What happens now? CSGW told Navigate360 to immediately stop taking any further tips. They also asked the National Anonymous Call Centre to cease accepting and processing any new information for the Guelph and Wellington area, 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 incident 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. Several other Crime Stoppers branches have also stopped taking tips.
