Canada's Revenue and Statistics agencies were knocked offline Friday when officials, concerned about several vulnerabilities, took down the sites as a precautionary measure.
The suspension of activities lasted until late Sunday when Canadian officials said the system had been patched, according to The Globe and Mail. The shutdown forced the Tax Agency to halt online processing of tax returns, while Statistics Canada was unable to produce its monthly Labour Force Survey of employment statistics.
The vulnerabilities were reportedly in a third-party application that was used by the Canadian government. The exact issue that caused the concern was not released, but no data was lost or illegally accessed.
“We took preemptive action to patch the vulnerability in our own systems. There's no indication that there was a breach,” a Canadian Revenue Agency spokesman said, reported The Globe and Mail.
