Hamilton and Halton police have joined other Ontario police services suspending their use of Crime Stoppers following a massive data breach involving the anonymous tip service’s third-party software.
In a news release Thursday, Halton police said it was made aware that some data related to the region was included in the breach, but the service is still assessing the scope and impact of the cyberattack.
Hamilton police similarly announced Thursday that it would be pausing its use of the platform as it looks to seek “further information to assess whether appropriate safeguards are in place before resuming use of the program.”
Toronto Crime Stoppers announced earlier Thursday it had temporarily stopped accepting tips after learning more than 175,000 tips submitted between January 2022 and November 2025, along with nearly 15,000 names, were included in the stolen data.
Toronto police later followed suit and suspended its use of the anonymous tip service while it awaits more information.
Later Thursday afternoon, York Regional Police also suspended its partnership with Crime Stoppers.
The data breach involves Navigate360, a U.S.-based company that provides the P3 tip-management platform used by Crime Stoppers organizations across Canada and the United States. The platform was compromised in a cyberattack in March.
Toronto Crime Stoppers said Navigate360 has yet to clarify whether the names in the breach belong to people who submitted tips, people named in the tips or both. It also said it had not received the text of the stolen tips, despite repeated requests.
The pauses come after CBC reported that 1.5 million tips submitted to Canadian Crime Stoppers programs over the last 25 years were exposed in a massive data breach.
Toronto Crime Stoppers told The Canadian Press it didn’t stop accepting tips sooner because Navigate360 initially said in April that Toronto data had not been taken, and when the company later said Toronto data was affected, it didn’t say what information was exposed.
In its statement Thursday, Halton police said the Crime Stoppers platform operates independently of the police service and isn’t connected to its internal systems.
The service encouraged people who want to report a crime or public safety concern to police directly through existing channels. It acknowledged those channels don’t offer the same anonymity as Crime Stoppers.
Crime Stoppers allows members of the public to provide information criminal activity anonymously. Protecting tipsters’ identities is central to the service, as people may face safety risks if they’re identified as having provided information to police.
Cybersecurity breach includes Crime Stoppers of Hamilton data
Extent of breach, including what data was accessed, remains unclear
Hamilton police previously issued a release in June notifying the public after receiving information from Crime Stoppers of Hamilton indicating some local data had been hacked.
At the time, Crime Stoppers of Hamilton said it had requested a detailed report from Navigate360 to determine what information was exposed. The local organization said Navigate360 had assured them that the software was secure and that any additional security measures had been implemented.
With files from The Canadian Press
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