Telus says it is investigating hack of its systems

Telus Corporation headquarters is seen in downtown Vancouver, on Thursday, January 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Canadian telecommunications and business services firm Telus is investigating a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to some of its systems, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

The ShinyHunters hacking group told Reuters in a message it stole at least 700 terabytes of data from Telus.

All business operations within the company “remain fully operational, and there is no evidence of disruption to customer connectivity or service,” the spokesperson said in a statement provided to Reuters.

Telus is working with cyber forensics experts to support its investigation and with law enforcement, and is “notifying impacted customers, as appropriate,” the spokesperson said.

The statement did not address what kind of data was stolen or how much.

Samples of the data shared by the hacking group with Reuters suggest the stolen data includes information related to at least two dozen companies that included personally identifiable information, call data and recordings, FBI background check information and source code spanning multiple business divisions within the business services and telecommunications company.

Reuters has not verified the authenticity of the data.

ShinyHunters has been linked to a string of hacks targeting major companies around the world. Dutch telecom Odido said last month that the company believed the group’s claims that it was behind a recent hack that exposed personal information from more than six million accounts. The group has also targeted data associated with PornHub, Wynn Resorts, and many other companies.

Reporting by AJ Vicens in Detroit. Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Kirsten DOnovan.