Canada's tax authority shut down its online tax-filing services on Tuesday night to safeguard taxpayers' information after the major security bug Heartbleed was exposed.

Canada's Revenue Agency (CRA) temporarily blocked access to its online tax filing services as a "preventative" measure to "safeguard the integrity of the information we hold," a spokeswoman told the The Wall Street Journal. The measure was taken as "a precaution until the agency can be sure the risks have been eliminated." The deadline for most Canadians to file taxes is April 30.

Heartbleed is an encryption security bug affecting the servers using the popular open-source software package OpenSSL. Estimates says it's used by two-thirds of the entire Internet, and the bug potentially exposes a great deal of sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers and emails. Essentially, if a website uses an unpatched version of OpenSSL, a malicious hacker can then access data that are supposed to be protected.

OpenSSL has had this bug for almost two years, but its existence was revealed only on Monday. Researchers found it possible to trick servers running OpenSSL into sending information that was supposedly protected, transmitting the contents of the server's memory.

After the announcement, many vulnerable websites like Yahoo and OKCupid have patched the bug — some more quickly than others — but other sites are still in the process of updating their servers, which leaves their user's information potentially vulnerable.

The CRA provided the following statement to The Toronto Star:

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) places first priority on ensuring the confidentiality of taxpayer information.

We have received information concerning an Internet security vulnerability named the Heartbleed Bug. As a preventative measure, the CRA has temporarily shut down public access to our online services to safeguard the integrity of the information we hold. Applications include online services like EFILE, NETFILE, My Account, My Business Account and Represent a Client.

The CRA recognizes that this problem may represent a significant inconvenience for individual Canadians, representatives and businesses that count on the CRA for online information and services. Please be assured that we are 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.

Please note that consideration will also be given to taxpayers who are unable to comply with their filing requirements because of this service interruption.
We are committed to investigating any potential impacts to taxpayer information. We will provide further information and daily updates at 3PM EST on our home page until the situation is resolved.

The filing services will be down until further notice.

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