Consumer Advocate, Public Interest Intervenor, Small Business Advocate, and Nova Scotia Power deliver opening statements in M12600 inquiry into the 2025 cyberattack's impact on customers

M12600 · Nova Scotia Power - Cybersecurity Accountability IN THE MATTER OF AN INQUIRY about the impact of the cyber incident on NOVA SCOTIA POWER INCORPORATED’s collection and retention of customer information, customer service and communications, billing processes and regulatory matters

AI summary

The Nova Scotia Energy Board initiated proceeding M12600 to examine how the 2025 Cybersecurity attack on Nova Scotia Power affected customer information collection and retention, communications, billing, and regulatory matters, separate from the concurrent technical review in M12273.
The Consumer Advocate, relying on consultant Ed Mollard of InterGroup Consultants, identified key questions around privacy policy adequacy, staff training, customer notification, fraud mitigation, and billing methodology, while emphasizing a constructive rather than adversarial posture.
Public Interest Intervenor David MacLeod highlighted the heightened risk to approximately 75,000 Nova Scotians holding federal security clearances, arguing that standard commercial credit monitoring is inadequate protection against foreign intelligence exploitation of compromised PII.
Nova Scotia Power acknowledged that compromised data included Social Insurance Numbers, outlined remediation steps taken (system restoration, late-fee suspension, payment deferrals, five-year credit monitoring and identity protection services), and noted the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada recognized its significant remediation efforts.
Nova Scotia Power filed rebuttal evidence on August 10, 2026, including pointed criticism of Board Counsel consultant Tricia Ralph (INQ Law) and Mr. Mollard, as well as separate evidence from privacy expert Jena Valdetero.

Disclaimer: This summary was generated by AI from the filings it describes. We take care to make it accurate, but errors are possible - and it isn't advice. Only the filings themselves are the record: if you're relying on something here, confirm it against the source documents or the Nova Scotia Energy Board's own record. Full disclaimer →

What was filed

Documents filed on this day

N-18 Opening Statement - CA exhibits
N-19 Opening Statement - David MacLeod exhibits
N-20 Opening Statement - SBA exhibits
N-21 Opening Statement - NS Power exhibits