BCLC urges players to change PlayNow passwords

The B.C. Lottery Corporation has issued an urgent update, calling on players registered with PlayNow, the only licensed online gambling website in the province, to quickly change their passwords.

BCLC flags potential cybersecurity issue for consumers

The BCLC has informed the public as to the exact nature of why this change was needed, elaborating that "suspicious activity" had occurred on the PlayNow platform. According to the BCLC, a number of passwords had been stolen from other websites, and that could directly impact some players at PlayNow.

The best course of action would be for players to change their passwords, as the BCLC has already flagged brute login attempts, known as "credential stuffing." This is the process when bad actors, who may have obtained passwords on the dark net, use them to try and log into player accounts.

The information used by bad actors is based on previous leaks that could compromise consumers' privacy, especially those who have been using the same passwords across multiple accounts instead of relying on strong and unique credentials.

In other words, the BCLC has not flagged any issue with the PlayNow platform’s own security, but admitted that such credential stuffing could potentially lead to exposed accounts. Commenting on the incident, the BCLC President and CEO Pat Davis noted that the findings were disturbing.

Precautionary measure, but also urgent

"Our investigation remains ongoing, and we have found no evidence that our systems have been compromised, or that player login information was stolen from our systems," he explained.

Some consumers have already been impacted, the BCLC said, but measures have been taken. The appeal to change passwords is not meant to wreak panic, but rather to quickly address a potential security vulnerability.

Consumers are also reminded to choose strong and unique passwords that have not been used on other accounts, and are preferably generated specifically for PlayNow.

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