CBC reports:
More Ontario police units have now paused their use of the Crime Stoppers program, after CBC News revealed the extent of a massive data leak.
The Toronto, York Region, Halton Region, Windsor, Kingston, Cornwall and Hamilton police services all announced they have suspended their partnerships with local Crime Stoppers chapters and are asking the public to contact them directly with tips. Durham Region police said they have removed references directing people to the program.
The Waterloo Regional Police Service said in a statement that it had already stopped publicly promoting Crime Stoppers as a reporting option in early July, soon after it had learned of the incident.
Four Crime Stoppers programs — Toronto, Guelph Wellington, Peel and Waterloo Regional — also said they would no longer be accepting anonymous tips. They are also all located in Ontario.
Read more at CBC.ca.
The breach wasn’t in Crime Stoppers itself, but in the Navigate360 platform it uses to accept anonymous tips from the public. The Navigate360 hack by a hacktivist was reported on March 18, 2026, but Navigate360 has not given its clients the information they need to notify affected people for whom they may have contact information. U.S. Crime Stoppers are also affected by the breach, but the U.S. parent organization failed to provide any details about what — if any — steps they were taking to better secure tips. At no point did most U.S. Crime Stoppers organizations stop using the insecure platform.
