HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government says it has identified thousands of stolen records involving about 100,000 people in the province who were victims of a global data breach.

Cybersecurity Minister Colton LeBlanc says the stolen information includes 55,000 records with names, addresses, dates of birth and years of service involving past and present teachers.

LeBlanc says about 26,000 students aged 16 and older had information stolen, including their dates of birth and student ID numbers — data that was stored in a database shared with Elections Nova Scotia.

Among the others affected by the security breach are 5,000 short-term accommodations owners, 3,800 people who applied for jobs with Nova Scotia Health, and 1,400 Nova Scotia pension plan recipients.

LeBlanc says it is difficult to estimate with certainty how many people were targeted in the attack discovered last week, because some of records identified by the province may belong to the same people.

Hackers stole the data after they broke into the MOVEit file transfer system, which the province uses for employee payroll.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2023.

The Canadian Press