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P.A. Police launch new website after hacking breach

Nov 10, 2017 | 11:00 AM

The Prince Albert Police Service launched a newly-designed website today, after their former site fell victim to a hacking attack earlier this week.

The police service’s website was breached Wednesday morning by an unknown party, and was replaced by a message reading “Hacked By Team System Dz” and “I Love Islamic state.” An audio file of an Arabic-language poem was heard playing in the background. The police department’s IT department quickly removed the hacker’s message, but the website remained offline throughout the day Thursday.

This morning the police service launched a newly-designed website. Police spokesperson Alanna Adamko said the new website had been in the works for several months. Although the new website bears a .net domain name, Adamko said the new site can still be accessed at papolice.ca.

“We just decided to launch it a bit earlier than our original scheduled date, and we’re very happy with it so far,” Adamko said, adding the previous website’s technology was dated.

The previous web host provider was compromised in the hacking attack before the police website was defaced, Adamko noted. The department has switched hosting services as part of the new launch, she said, which should prevent the hacking incident from repeating itself. 

“We switched to a new web host provider that’s very reliable,” she said. “We have confidence that this new website will be secure.”

No personal or police data was compromised in the attack, Adamko emphasized. All of the data on their website was public information, she said, meaning no sensitive data was accessed by the hacker.

New website features interactive crime map

The new website has several brand-new features, Adamko said, including an interactive map of the city with crime types and locations visible to the public. Adamko said the department wanted to add the interactive technology to their website for some time, because it allows residents to quickly and easily view data on crimes in their areas.

 

 

“If you wanted to see whatever crime occurred in your neighbourhood over the last month, you’d be able to go onto the website now and actually see that through an interactive map,” Adamko said.

Adamko said the crime map will also be included in the police service’s mobile app, which is currently in development and set to be launched before the end of the year.

 

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews