A phishing scam that led to Invest Nova Scotia sending $573,000 to an imposter posing as a venture capital executive will not impact startups, the provincial economic development corporation said Monday.

First reported by The Halifax Examiner and AllNovaScotia, the theft happened in May and was discovered in June. The theft was the work of a hacker using a Russian VPN. In an email, Director of Strategic Communications Shawn Hirtle said Invest Nova Scotia is tweaking its internal processes to prevent a repeat incident. But he added those changes will not affect the organization’s clients.

“Since the cyber fraud was detected, Invest Nova Scotia took steps to contain the unauthorized access, including deactivating the specific email account, resetting all employee passwords, and locking down our server from receiving logins from jurisdictions deemed high risk,” wrote Hirtle.

“For our clients, all programming at Invest Nova Scotia continues. Invest Nova Scotia staff have implemented additional security features as part of our work that are not expected to have a significant impact on how we interact with clients.”

Court documents reveal the $573,000 was intended for Sandpiper Ventures, a venture capital firm in which Invest Nova Scotia is a limited partner. The money was requested as part of a larger capital call. But the perpetrator gained access to some of Invest Nova Scotia’s systems and sent a forged email directing that the money be sent to a bank account controlled by the hacker.

Hirtle said the transfer's intended recipients have since been paid the money they were owed, though Sandpiper has not been publicly identified as the other party by Invest Nova Scotia. He added that Invest Nova Scotia’s other programming continues apace.