News

Ontario government deactivates service kiosks after fraud concerns

October 16, 2012

Privacy and fraud concerns have led to the deactivation of the 72 ServiceOntario kiosks located province-wide, according to an article on torontosun.com. 

The kiosks enable access to 40 different government services, including address changes and license plate stickers. The suspected attacks were attempts to gain personal debit or credit card information from four kiosks, the article reported.

Government Services Minister Harinder Takhar is now considering options for the deactivated kiosks and is expected to make an announcement in a few weeks about the machines' future, according to the article.

"The safety and security of Ontarians is our No. 1 concern, and out of an abundance of caution the kiosks were temporarily taken offline," ministry spokesman John Friesen said Monday. "There is no indication at this time that any information or personal details held by the Ontario government were compromised. Investigations by ServiceOntario and its financial sector partners were started after the kiosks were shut down."

Read more about government kiosks.