Wednesday, October 21, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement from Toronto Crime Stoppers on the P3 data breach
Toronto, ON — The following statement is being shared on behalf of Sean Sportun, Chair of Toronto Crime Stoppers:
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.
We are pausing Toronto Crime Stoppers, effective immediately. We have:
- removed the “Tip Submit” feature from our website;
- advised the vendor, Navigate360/P3, that experienced the breach to immediately suspend in-take function for Toronto Crime Stoppers from their platform; and
- formally directed the National Anonymous Call Centre to cease accepting or processing any new information intended for Toronto Crime Stoppers, including telephone calls and online tip submissions. This direction applies to all tip intake activities conducted by the NACC on behalf of Toronto Crime Stoppers.
Until we have a safer way to protect you, please do not send us tips by phone, online, or through the app.
- If a crime is happening or someone is in danger, call 911.
- To report a non-emergency, contact Toronto Police Service directly through their existing reporting channels. We know this isn’t anonymous, and for some people that matters a great deal. We are working to bring back an anonymous option as quickly as we safely can.
We know what this asks of people. For more than 40 years, people in Toronto have relied on Crime Stoppers to share what they know without giving their name: a witness afraid of retaliation, a neighbour who can’t be seen talking to police, someone reporting a person close to them. Their courage has helped solve crimes, prevent tragedies, and save lives. Pausing our program means that option isn’t available now, and we did not make this decision lightly. We are pausing because those people deserve a system we can fully stand behind.
What happened. In March, hackers stole data from P3, the tip software we have used since 2018. P3 is owned by Navigate360. Navigate360 has told us that 176,859 Toronto tips, dating from January 2022 to November 2025, were in the stolen data. It has also found 14,973 names in those tips. It has not told us whether those names belong to people who submitted tips, to people who were named in those tips, or both.
How it happened. We never ask for your name, and we don’t want it. But people sometimes include details to explain what they saw. Before a tip goes to investigators, our practice is to remove those details. It has come to light that some of those original tips containing potentially identifying information were stolen from P3.
What we don’t know yet. Despite numerous requests through our legal counsel, Navigate360 has not provided us with the text of the stolen tips, so we cannot see what each one says. Anonymously sourced information that has been reported publicly this week has not been shared with us—not by Navigate360, not by the hackers, not by anybody.
Why we didn’t stop sooner. 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. To date, we have still not seen the text of the stolen tips. We have been pressing for answers for months and continue to do so, especially in light of this week’s reporting.
If you’re worried your tip was exposed:
- We will never contact you first to ask for your tip number, password, or anything else. If someone does, it isn’t us.
- If you are in danger right now, call 911.
What comes next:
- A safer way to take tips. Since June, we have been working with various partners on a safer way to take tips. We will share more details about our plan in the coming days.
- Stronger rules for any partner we use. Any partner will have to protect your information, delete what isn’t needed, and tell us right away if something goes wrong.
- Pressing Navigate360, through our lawyers, for the stolen tips and a full account of what happened and what steps are being taken to secure information.
A timeline of what we knew, and when, is below. We will post our next update in the coming days at 222tips.com. People trusted us with their safety. We will not resume taking tips until we can stand behind the system that protects them.
Timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| March 18-19 | Reports surface that P3 was hacked. Navigate360 tells programs it has not confirmed an incident and that P3 remains fully operational. We notify Toronto Police Service immediately and ask the national and Ontario Crime Stoppers associations for information. Simultaneously, we reset all program passwords and activate Multi-Factor Authentication to enhance security access. |
| March 25 | Navigate360 confirms someone accessed P3 using a customer account’s stolen login. Navigate360 says the system is “safe and fully operational.” |
| April 7-10 | After a login outage, we stop using P3 until it is deemed safe, then resume. |
| April 9 | Navigate360 advises that some Canadian programs’ data was taken, but not Toronto’s data. |
| May 28 | Navigate360 advises that a US-based Crime Stoppers program was the victim of the attack, and that approximately 91 gigabytes of data was initially taken but recovered. Navigate360 invites programs to ask whether their data was affected. We ask. |
| June 9 | Navigate360 tells us Toronto data was affected, from tips dating January 2022 to November 2025. No information is provided about which tips, how many, and whether potentially identifying information was shared. We ask for answers, including whether P3 is safe. |
| June | We begin looking for an alternative and safer way to take tips and engage our own lawyers who specialize in cyber breaches. |
| July 6 | Navigate360 provides the Tip ID Numbers of 176,859 Toronto tips that were in the stolen data and informs us that 12,392 of those tips “potentially” contained personal information. It doesn’t give us the tips themselves or provide information about what personal details were potentially included. |
| August 17 | We meet with various law enforcement and technology partners to plan a modern, safer way to take tips. |
| September-October | Navigate360 advises that it can provide a list of approximately 14,973 names that can be associated to the affected Tip Numbers. It provides the list of names, but does not say who the names belong to—tipsters, suspects, or otherwise. The list lacks detail necessary to measure the risk involved. |
| October 21 | Media reports publish information about the breach not previously available to us. |
| October 21 | We pause the intake of tips to Toronto Crime Stoppers. |
We are continuing to follow up for the text of the stolen tips so we can understand the true impact and the scope of the exposure.
We know waiting is hard, especially for anyone worried about their safety. We will keep pressing for answers, and we will share what we learn as soon as we can.
Sean Sportun
Chair, Toronto Crime Stoppers
Toronto Crime Stoppers is unable to grant interviews this week as the pause is put in place and staff respond to concerns from Crime Stoppers users. We expect to have a spokesperson available in the coming days. Please send any outstanding questions to Tamara Cherry, Pickup Communications, at tamara@pickupcommunications.com, and we will answer in writing what we can.
About Toronto Crime Stoppers: Toronto Crime Stoppers is a charity founded in 1984 and run by a volunteer civilian board. It is one of the largest Crime Stoppers programs in North America. Information from the public has led to nearly 12,000 arrests and more than 42,000 charges. It has helped recover more than $74 million in property and hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal drugs. Toronto Crime Stoppers receives no government funding and relies on donations. Since 2020, money once used for cash rewards has gone to community crime-prevention programs.
Toronto Crime Stoppers prevents and reduces crime by partnering with the community, law enforcement and the media to offer anonymity to anyone providing information leading to an arrest or of significant use.
Toronto Crime Stoppers is a partnership between the community, the Toronto Police Service and the media. It provides members of the public the opportunity to anonymously provide information which assists police in solving crimes.
Toronto Crime Stoppers does not receive any government funding. The funds required to operate our program, develop community awareness campaigns and complete community safety programs are raised through private donations.
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