Toronto police have suspended their use of the Crime Stoppers tip line after a data breach compromised more than 176,000 tips submitted between 2022 and 2025.
In a statement Wednesday night , Toronto police said they are reviewing the incident along with security measures Toronto Crime Stoppers plans to implement after the breach.
“The information that has become available raises serious concerns regarding the protection of confidential information provided through the Crime Stoppers program. The safety of members of the public, tipsters, and police personnel is paramount,” police said in the statement.
Both police and Toronto Crime Stoppers are advising anyone with information a crime to police directly, while acknowledging that doing so does not provide anonymity.
“Until we have a safer way to protect you, please do not send us tips by phone, online, or through the app,” Toronto Crime Stoppers chair Sean Sportun said in a statement Wednesday night .
Sportun said hackers stole data from P3, the tip software used by the charity since 2018, in March.
Navigate 360, which owns the software, informed the charity that the breach exposed 176,859 tips between January 2022 and November 2025, along with 14,973 names included in those tips.
Sportun said it remains unclear whether those names belong to tipsters, people identified in the tips or both.
He said the charity has repeatedly sought answers from Navigate360 and has yet to see the stolen tips, despite requests through legal counsel.
“Since March, Navigate360 has told us repeatedly that P3 is secure. In April, it told us Toronto’s data had not been taken. When it told us in June that Toronto’s data was affected, it didn’t say what was exposed,” Sportun said.
He also apologized to those whose names were compromised in the breach.
“Since 1984, people in Toronto have come to Toronto Crime Stoppers because we promised they could stay anonymous. This week’s reporting shows that for some of them, that promise was broken. We are deeply sorry,” Sportun said.
The full story
This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.
