Hundreds of tenants living in the former Lions Place may have had personal information stolen by hackers after its new owner experienced a security breach.
Alberta-based Mainstreet Equity Corporation has sent letters to tenants in the building, now known as Residences of Portage Commons, saying the data breach impacts those who paid rent or a security deposit between April 2023 and June 2024, and includes names and banking information.
“We want to assure you that at this time, there is no evidence suggesting that any individual’s personal information was, or is, being used by the unauthorized user for any purpose including to commit fraud or identity theft as a result of this incident,” a notice on the corporation’s website says.
“We want to assure you that this incident is being treated as a top priority. We are committed to further improving our security in order to prevent a similar incident from occurring in future.”
The corporation says it will also pay for 12 months worth of identity theft and credit monitoring through Equifax for any tenant who wants it.
Rene Jamieson, a past president and secretary of the building’s residents council, received the letter informing her about the security breach last week.
“Several other people received it at the same time because they were all down there wondering what it was all about,” Jamieson said Tuesday.
“I have already checked with my bank and my bank account is still my bank account. But they said I should change my password.”
Norm Pohl, the council’s acting chairman, said he is concerned about the data breach.
“I have a credit line, which I never use,” Pohl said.
“It would be a bother to change my account number, but the bother is better than having someone take your money.”
Residents of the building have been no strangers to issues in recent years.
Lions Housing Centres and the Lions Club of Winnipeg shocked their tenants last year, seniors aged 55 and up, when they sold the 287-suite building to a for-profit real estate company.
While the province stepped in and said it would pay $1.2 million in rent subsidies for the seniors living at 610 Portage Ave., many have since moved out, putting in jeopardy services in the building including a grocery store and cafeteria.
A provincial spokesman said in a statement it is not affected by Mainstreet’s cybersecurity incident.
Late last year, the corporation hired a full time pest exterminator to get a handle on a bed bug infestation in the building.
Earlier this year, tenants learned some services previously offered for free would now come at a cost — including changing a light bulb for $50.
A report released in April by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives called on the province to launch a public inquiry into the management and spending of both the Lions Housing Centres and Winnipeg branch of the Lions Club, saying the way the sale was handled was “organizational elder abuse.”
Mainstreet said it discovered the cybersecurity breach on May 21.
The corporation said “an unauthorized third party gained access to a portion of our IT infrastructure, temporarily affecting some of our systems and rendering them inaccessible.”
Mainstreet said it immediately undertook countermeasures including hiring third-party cybersecurity experts to help contain the breach and conduct a forensic investigation.
No one from Mainstreet returned a call for comment.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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