A Saskatchewan resident was “inadvertently” added to a group chat that included government MLAs as they planned out questions for a legislative session last week.
The government confirmed the incident, but wouldn’t answer questions on how it happened or what can be done so that a similar mistake can be avoided in the future.
Megan Beach said she didn’t give much thought when she was first added to the group chat at 10 a.m. CST on Thursday.
“It was someone saying, ‘I’m gonna let you know what questions to ask,’ and so I thought that it was maybe a spam text,” she said.
It wasn’t until a few hours later, when one of the chat members directed another to “come to the back of the house” so they could receive instructions on a question, that Beach realized it might be something more serious.
That’s when she got concerned.
“Why am I in this group and how was there a mistake made to put me in this group with MLAs?” she said.
Beach said she was concerned she might see something she wasn’t supposed to and could get in trouble over it, so she exited the chat.
The incident reminded Beach of the story reported recently in the United States, where a journalist was added to a chat among high ranking United States officials as they were planning out a series of air strikes on Houthi Rebels in Yemen.
There were no classified details in the messages Beach received.
In a statement, the provincial government confirmed that Beach was “inadvertently” added to the group chat.
It did not answer multiple questions about the veracity of the text messages and how such a mistake would be avoided in the future.
It would only say that “Group chats are frequently used as a means of communication by various people and organizations.”
CBC News has confirmed that three of the phone numbers in the group are tied to Saskatchewan Party MLAs: MLA for Kindersley Biggar Kim Gartner, MLA for Dakota-Arm River Barry Kropf and MLA for Weyburn-Bengough Michael Weger.
Kropf is the MLA that would rise in the legislature during Thursday’s debate and ask the question sent in the group chat.
“As mentioned in this chamber on many occasions, in some cases there is no local companies that do a specific type of work in procurement. To the member from Saskatoon Riversdale, if no Canadian company offered a specific life-saving service that we needed, would the members opposite not want us to acquire services that people need because it is potentially American?” Kropf asked, referring to a contract by LifeLabs.
While there was no earth shattering details, Beach said she did learn something. She said she has watched legislative debates before and spotted MLAs on their phones.
“I guess this gives me insight on to maybe a reason why they are on their phones. They’re discussing with each other while it’s going on,” Beach said.
Beach hopes that MLAs are more careful with who they text in the future.
A cybersecurity and technology analyst says the incident is another example of what can happen when people put too much trust in technology.
“We’re seeing individuals being added to group chats who should not be added. We’re seeing content continuously being leaked and that poses a risk, especially to our elected officials,” Ritesh Kotak said.
Kotak said that if politicians and elected officials are going to rely on unsecured platforms to send messages then they should check who they’ve added a chat.
He suggested calling an individual to verify their identity once they’ve been added.
