As it scrambles to deals with the so-called Heartbleed Bug, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) says that it hopes to resume online services over the weekend.
The CRA shut down public access to its online services in order to protect the confidential information it holds after learning about a newly-discovered vulnerability that affects systems around the world late yesterday afternoon, April 8.
This afternoon it issued a status update, indicating that it currently anticipates that services will resume over the weekend.
The affected services include the CRA’s EFILE, NETFILE, My Account, My Business Account and Represent a Client services. “The CRA recognizes that this problem may represent a significant inconvenience for individual Canadians who count on the CRA for online information and services,” it says, adding that Minister of National Revenue, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, has confirmed that individual taxpayers will not be penalized as a result of the service interruption.
“We continue to investigate any potential impacts to taxpayer information, and to be fully engaged in resolving this matter and restoring online services as soon as possible in a manner that ensures the private information of Canadians remains safe and secure,” it says.