Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/NCIX (2nd nomination)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep and retitle. czar 03:43, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

NCIX
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As written, fails WP:Notability guidelines, specifically, WP:NCORP and WP:GNG. Sources are almost all primary sources, and sources 2-3, 6-7, and 10-13 relate to the company's bankruptcy, which does not count as significant coverage (WP:SIGCOV). The only noteworthy item is a single data breach, at source #14, for which sources 15-16 are repeat sources of the single event covered in source #14. As the corporation is now defunct/bankrupt, no prospect of ever meeting standalone notability. Nevertheless, completing the obligatory motions and BEFORE procedures, a Google web search for the article title revealed only directory listings, SEO listings, former social media pages, and press coverage related to either of (a) the corporation's bankruptcy (initial filing and conclusion), which is only trivial and trite press coverage, and (b) the single data breach, for which repeat sources do not count towards WP:SIGCOV. Doug Mehus (talk) 23:34, 25 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Keep NCIX was a highly notable organization, and as such had a significant degree of coverage given to it. Deleting it simply because a google search didn't find it doesn't count as a valid action. There's much more available if further examination is done. SuperChris (talk) 17:12, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Companies-related deletion discussions. Doug Mehus (talk) 23:34, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Canada-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 23:42, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of British Columbia-related deletion discussions. North America1000 19:56, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Computing-related deletion discussions. North America1000 19:56, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Software-related deletion discussions. North America1000 19:56, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Ontario-related deletion discussions. North America1000 19:56, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 16:35, 1 November 2019 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 17:03, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Keep with potential rename to "Bankruptcy and data breach of NCIX" per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources. Sources (ordered chronologically)   </li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li><li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> </ol>

<ol> <li> The report notes: "NCIX was formed in 1996, operating a retail store selling computer hardware and components. Its products include PCs, laptops, individual computer hardware components, peripherals and accessories; it also offers car audio, domestic appliances, games consoles, and accessories. The company later developed a website coupled with 13 stores and a showroom based in Canada. It also operates in the US." The article notes that the head office was at: "2-3900 14th Avenue, Markham, L3R 4R3, CAN"</li> <li> The article notes: "Business of the Year (26-75 employees): NCIX Over 18 years ago, NCIX opened its first retail store and have since grown across Canada. NCIX, recognized as Business of the Year, is a computer and electronics retailer offering a wide array of electronics and accessories. Its also the No. 1 computer component e-tailer in Canada. “Richmond has been our home for the past 19 years, and we feel proud of this,” said Sam Li, marketing manager. “We appreciate everyone’s business.” NCIX isn’t a typical computer store. Its YouTube channel delivers how-to guides, product reviews, and all the latest tech news in the show Netlinked Daily. The channel is part of the top one per cent of all technology channels with over 70 million views."</li> <li> The article notes: "Surrey’s Linus Sebastian, 30, appeared in his first YouTube video for NCIX Tech Tips back in 2007. In that video, he describes and installs a computer processing unit (CPU) cooling system. At the time, Sebastian was working for NCIX, the Richmond-headquartered computer company. He started as a sales representative, but was eventually promoted to a management position. One of his duties was to make product-information videos. Sebastian started Linus Tech Tips, an arm of NCIX that would allow him to publish at a lower-production cost. The new channel, Sebastian said, allowed him to publish videos more frequently and would “absolve the company of some of the responsibility for whatever it is I might say.” The Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel started to gain followers, but the NCIX channel was still dominant. In 2013, Sebastian decided to leave NCIX, through an agreement, and brought the Linus Tech Tips channel and its trademark with him."</li> <li> The article notes: "Founded in 1996, NCIX primarily served western Canadian residents. After building a sizable online presence and looking to expand, the company opened brick and mortar stores in the Vancouver area and later added additional locations in Ontario. Once the Canadian market was well covered, NCIX set up a distribution center in the United States in 2011. Moving forward to July 2017, NCIX shut down several of its retail stores in eastern Canada and closed its office in Markham, Ontario. Then in November, five more stores were shut down. At this time, customers were told to file chargebacks with financial institutions for orders that were not fulfilled. Now, all NCIX retail stores have been closed and show no signs of returning. The Supreme Court of British Columbia will hear the bankruptcy case filed by NCIX. At this time it is advised that no orders are placed due to the possibility of not receiving a product and being unable to obtain a refund. Where exactly NCIX went wrong is still open to debate. Competition from Amazon, Newegg, and other online sites may have been too much. Regardless of the reasoning, costs clearly have outweighed revenue for some time now. For those interested in hearing more possible reasons of failure, listen to some insight from two well known former employees."</li> <li> The article notes: "NCIX filed for bankruptcy last Friday after closing down its last walk-in retail store. The exact reasons why the company had run out of money are not disclosed officially, but chatter indicates that NCIX spent too much on retail stores and too little on improving the efficiency of its online business. NCIX (or Netlink Computer Inc.) was founded in 1996 by Steve Wu in Burnaby, British Columbia. Initially, NCIX was a walk-in retail outlet, but in 1997 the company began to sell products online, attracting customers both from Canada and the US. Over the years, NCIX established multiple walk-in stores in Canada and expanded its online business in North America to a point when it had to build a distribution center in California to serve its customers from the US. faster and cheaper. For years, the company has competed both against traditional retailers as well as against online rivals like Amazon and Newegg. NCIX survived multiple PC retailers in Canada, which encouraged it to focus on “real” stores. So instead of investing in online sales assets (such as warehouses, distribution centers, and delivery methods), the company invested heavily in large walk-in retail outlets in the recent years, its former employees say. In total, the company used to have about a dozen of retail locations in Canada, all of which were expensive to run."</li> <li> The article notes: "Last Friday, Netlink Computer Inc., better known to DIY system builders as NCIX, filed for bankruptcy in Vancouver, Canada, after shuttering the last of its brick and mortar stores. It's not clear what exactly led to this point, though it's quite possible the company focused too much on its physical stores and not enough on its web business. Some companies have had a hard time fully embracing the online sales model after thriving for some time with physical storefronts. It didn't seem likely that NCIX would make that mistake. It began as a walk-in retail business when it was founded in 1996 by Steve Wu in Burnaby, British Columbia, but started selling products online a year later. Over the years, NCIX expanded by opening several physical stores. It also built a bigger presence in the United States, though it faced stiff competition from Amazon and Newegg. According to Anandtech, that's the reason why NCIX poured more resources into opening offline stores, rather than investing more in warehouses and distribution centers for its online business. That said, NCIX did set up a distribution center in the US in 2011. However, it hasn't been nearly as aggressive as Amazon or Newegg in the online space. Linus Sebastian from Linus Tech Tips stated in a YouTube video that this is one of the reasons why he left the company several years ago, after advancing about as high as a person could. He also criticized upper management. Skip ahead to the 41:40 mark to hear all of what he had to say:"</li> <li> The article notes: "North American shoppers, especially Canadians, have probably heard of or used the popular online and brick-and-mortar retailer of computer hardware NCIX before. Founded as Netlink Computer Inc.in Burnaby, British Columbia, the retailer was a brick-and-mortar store before becoming the online giant it’s better known as today. Before bankrupting, NCIX operated several retail stores in British Columbia and Ontario and a distribution center in California. We don’t know what caused the bankruptcy, but signs of trouble had already begun appearing in July when NCIX closed all its retail locations in Ontario. Shortly after, it closed a bunch of retail stores in its home market of British Columbia as well. By the end of November, all NCIX retail outlets had closed. The company also stopped fulfilling online orders around the same time and opened a thread on its forums for users to request refunds and cancellations."</li> <li> The article notes: "Vancouver-based tech retailer NCIX filed for bankruptcy late last year, closing more than a dozen stores and auctioning off most of its remaining goods — hardware and software. According to an article posted online by Vancouver cybersecurity expert Travis Doering, NCIX compromised security for hundreds of thousands of customers, whose private data — including IP, home and email addresses, passwords, credit card information and social insurance numbers — was being sold to the highest bidder on Craigslist. ... By failing to secure their customer data upon bankruptcy, Doering explained, NCIX potentially allowed millions of confidential records to be sold anonymously and without any oversight at all."</li> <li> The article notes: "Servers and storage disks filled with millions of unencrypted confidential records of employees, customers and business partners of computer retailer NCIX turned up for sale via a Craigslist advertisement. Up until December 1, 2017, when it filed for bankruptcy, NCIX was a privately-held company in Canada in the business of selling computer hardware and software. It competed with Amazon and Newegg but its focus on walk-in outlets rather than online sales brought the company down. Security consultant Travis Doering of Privacy Fly decided to act on a selling offer on Craigslist that promised two NCIX database servers for CAD 1,500, but he later found that the seller, identified as Jeff, actually had 'NCIX’s entire server farm from the east coast.' ... One he's analyzed includes 3,848,000 order details between 2007 and 2010, with names, company names, items purchased and their serial numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and payment data. In an updated version he found corresponding email addresses."</li> <li> The article notes: "When a company goes bankrupt what happens to the customer data? In one case, it ended up for sale on Craigslist. That's what a system analyst in Canada recently found: A shady Craigslist dealer was offering access to millions of customer records taken from unwiped servers used by the electronics retailer NCIX, which went bankrupt in 2017. 'It sounds crazy how negligent this company was,' said Travis Doering, who uncovered the sale and was once an NCIX customer. 'I personally feel so betrayed by this.' This week, he wrote up the incident in a blog post, which appears to have sparked a police investigation into the sale. According to Doering, at least some of the data goes back 15 years and was entirely stored in plain text. It included customer addresses, phone numbers, credit card payment details, and details about items people bought."</li> <li> The article notes: "Servers that once belonged to defunct Canadian gadget retailer NCIX turned up on the second-hand market without being wiped – and their customer data sold overseas – it is claimed. Those boxes, allegedly, stored plaintext credit card data for approximately 260,000 people, and purchase records for 385,000 shoppers. ... Since NCIX is nothing but a corpse now, those whose privacy has been breached – any customer or employee – have little chance for any redress, we fear."</li> <li> The article notes: "A security researcher has found customer and employee data belonging to one of Canada's biggest PC hardware retailers on servers put up for sale on Craigslist. The data, believed to go back as far as 15 years, belongs to NCIX, a PC retailer that filed for bankruptcy and closed shop in December 2017. The massive privacy breach appears to have taken place after the retailer closed its stores last year and retired old servers and employee workstations. It's unclear how these servers ended up advertised on Craigslist, but they did. Travis Doering of Privacy Fly discovered an ad for two servers in August."</li> <li> The article notes: "A defunct Metro Vancouver computer retailer is at the centre of an RCMP investigation due to concerns the private information of former customers could get into the wrong hands. Richmond-based NCIX had five locations in the region before declaring bankruptcy last December. ... CTV reached out to NCIX owner Steve Wu, but he didn't respond. Doering said he'd heard from employees that Wu went to China."</li> <li> The article notes: "Technical expert Graham Williams says he was shocked at reports of the breach and worries how much information may be out there. 'Looking at other breaches of Canadian retailers, we haven't seen this scope of information of user data, this amount of unencrypted data.' NCIX was a British Columbia-based computer seller that filed bankruptcy papers on Dec. 1, 2017. The retailer closed its outlets in both Vancouver and Richmond."</li> <li> The article notes: "Privacy officials in B.C. and Ottawa are looking into a reported data breach involving former Canadian retailer NCIX, with millions of records – including customer names, addresses, phone numbers and payment information – said to have been made available through a Craigslist post. Travis Doering, who runs a small cybersecurity firm in Vancouver known as Privacy Fly, in a post on his company website said he noticed last month that NCIX database servers were being sold online. ... David Shipley, chief executive officer of cybersecurity firm Beauceron Security, said if the information in Mr. Doering’s post is correct the incident would rank “among the worst privacy breaches in the private sector that I’m aware of in Canada. “It’s almost the digital equivalent of an oil spill with a bankrupt company,” he said. “Because who then pays for the clean-up? What recourse do victims truly have when a company no longer exists?”"</li> <li> The article notes: "“It’s just appalling,” Ann Cavoukian, head of Ryerson University’s Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence, said of the NCIX data discovery. “It just goes to show how poorly companies protect data, especially when they’re getting rid of their hardware devices. Of course the data wasn’t encrypted, but they could at least take the time to destroy the data before getting rid of the equipment.” “When you are preparing to apply for bankruptcy you have an obligation to your customers to destroy the personal data … The data doesn’t belong to you. You may have custody and control over the data, but it belongs to the data subject.” Richmond, B.C.-based NCIX, which had about a dozen stores in B.C. and Ontario, filed for bankruptcy in December, 2017. Eight months later, Travis Doering, owner of Vancouver security consultancy PrivacyFly, discovered the data hoard after spotting this ad on Craigslist: “NCIX Database Servers – $1,500,”"</li> <li> The article notes: "“Both sellers and buyers of the customer records, allegedly belonging to the retailer, can face harsh legal ramifications,” High-Tech Bridge's CEO Ilia Kolochenko commented. “Under certain sets of circumstances it can be a serious criminal offense, however, it is too early to make any decisive conclusions prior to thorough investigation of the incident.” But, as NCIX has gone bust, compensation claims are unlikely to fly as there's no one to pay them except those selling the equipment and it's unlikely they'll have the funds to cover any costs like that. “Nowadays, such negligence is unfortunately not all that uncommon, even amid operating and profitable companies, let alone bankrupt ones, Kolochenko added. “Many large organisations have been exposed for throwing away plaintext PII and other sensitive data of their customers on paper, hard drives or mobile devices."</li> <li> The article notes: "A Vancouver software engineer has launched a proposed class action lawsuit in the wake of an alleged data breach involving personal information belonging to former customers of bankrupt computer retailer NCIX. ... Warner claims NCIX failed to properly encrypt the information of at least 258,000 people. And he claims the auctioneer failed to take 'appropriate steps to protect the private information on its premises.' ... NCIX was a B.C.-based online computer hardware and software retailer. The company, officially known as Netlink Computer Inc., had retail outlets in the Lower Mainland as well as Markham, Mississauga, Scarborough and Ottawa before filing for bankruptcy last year."</li> <li> From Google Translate: "NCIX, a company specializing in the sale of computer equipment online, went bankrupt in December 2017. Its servers and data from the BC-based company would then have passed into the hands of an unscrupulous seller. This was discovered by Privacy Fly security consultant Travis Doering, who conducted his little investigation after seeing the servers in question for sale on the Craigslist classifieds site."</li> <li> The article notes: "Before declaring bankruptcy, and ultimately closing its doors in December 2017, NCIX was a major Canadian computer retailer, with stores across British Columbia and Ontario. In recent weeks, NCIX servers containing terabytes of unencrypted data have appeared for sale on Craigslist. The seller was located in Richmond, BC, a suburb of Vancouver, and was offering servers for $1500 apiece. The seller claimed to also have access to hundreds of computers from NCIX offices. Travis Doering, owner of cybersecurity firm Privacy Fly, investigated the sale, and found that the hardware contained massive amounts of private data, including names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, invoices, photos of customer ID, unsalted MD5 hashed passwords, hundreds of thousands of plain-text payment card details, and millions of customer orders. ... The mistakes made by NCIX are so glaring that this is a pretty simple one to avoid. Sensitive data should always be encrypted in storage, hard drives should be destroyed or securely wiped when decommissioned, and not every record should be retained indefinitely. There is no need for NCIX to have maintained this level of detailed customer data for more than 15 years. Unfortunately, when a company enters bankruptcy and closes down, they are left with little incentive to maintain proper information security."</li> <li> The article notes: "A Vancouver software engineer's proposed class action suit alleging a massive personal data breach will not be allowed to proceed against the trustee for bankrupt computer retailer NCIX. Late last month, a B.C. Supreme Court master described the various pieces of Kipling Warner's evidence against the defunct company as 'inherently unreliable' and 'bare allegations' not supported by fact. Master Sandra Harper declined to grant Warner leave to sue the Bowra Group, the retailer's trustee in bankruptcy. ... Formally known as Netlink Computer Inc., NCIX was a B.C.-based firm that filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 1, 2017. ... Another proposed class action over the alleged data breach has also been filed on behalf of former NCIX employees."</li> </ol>

There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow NCIX to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 01:36, 11 November 2019 (UTC)</li></ul> <ul><ul><li>NCIX has received substantial analysis from many analysts and publications about its bankruptcy and its data breach. This detailed analysis about both events is sufficient to allow the company to pass Notability. An option is to rename the article to be "Bankruptcy and data breach of NCIX" but I think it's fine to leave the article as titled "NCIX". Here is some sample analysis about the bankruptcy:<ol><li>TechSpot notes: "Where exactly NCIX went wrong is still open to debate. Competition from Amazon, Newegg, and other online sites may have been too much. Regardless of the reasoning, costs clearly have outweighed revenue for some time now."</li> <li>AnandTech notes, "The exact reasons why the company had run out of money are not disclosed officially, but chatter indicates that NCIX spent too much on retail stores and too little on improving the efficiency of its online business. ... For years, the company has competed both against traditional retailers as well as against online rivals like Amazon and Newegg. NCIX survived multiple PC retailers in Canada, which encouraged it to focus on “real” stores. So instead of investing in online sales assets (such as warehouses, distribution centers, and delivery methods), the company invested heavily in large walk-in retail outlets in the recent years, its former employees say. In total, the company used to have about a dozen of retail locations in Canada, all of which were expensive to run."</li> <li>PC Gamer notes, "It's not clear what exactly led to this point, though it's quite possible the company focused too much on its physical stores and not enough on its web business. ... That said, NCIX did set up a distribution center in the US in 2011. However, it hasn't been nearly as aggressive as Amazon or Newegg in the online space."</li> </ol> Here is some sample analysis about the data breach:<ol> <li>CBC News notes, "Technical expert Graham Williams says he was shocked at reports of the breach and worries how much information may be out there. "Looking at other breaches of Canadian retailers, we haven't seen this scope of information of user data, this amount of unencrypted data.""</li> <li>The Globe and Mail notes, "David Shipley, chief executive officer of cybersecurity firm Beauceron Security, said if the information in Mr. Doering’s post is correct the incident would rank “among the worst privacy breaches in the private sector that I’m aware of in Canada. “It’s almost the digital equivalent of an oil spill with a bankrupt company,” he said. “Because who then pays for the clean-up? What recourse do victims truly have when a company no longer exists?”"</li> <li>International Data Group's IT World Canada notes, "“It’s just appalling,” Ann Cavoukian, head of Ryerson University’s Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence, said of the NCIX data discovery. “It just goes to show how poorly companies protect data, especially when they’re getting rid of their hardware devices. Of course the data wasn’t encrypted, but they could at least take the time to destroy the data before getting rid of the equipment.”"</li> <li>Dennis Publishing's Cloud Pro notes, "“Both sellers and buyers of the customer records, allegedly belonging to the retailer, can face harsh legal ramifications,” High-Tech Bridge's CEO Ilia Kolochenko commented. “Under certain sets of circumstances it can be a serious criminal offense, however, it is too early to make any decisive conclusions prior to thorough investigation of the incident.” “Nowadays, such negligence is unfortunately not all that uncommon, even amid operating and profitable companies, let alone bankrupt ones, Kolochenko added. “Many large organisations have been exposed for throwing away plaintext PII and other sensitive data of their customers on paper, hard drives or mobile devices."</li> </ol> Cunard (talk) 01:36, 11 November 2019 (UTC)</li></ul></ul>
 * , Thanks. I like that. This company, it seems to me, is not otherwise notable outside of its bankruptcy (trivial coverage anyway) and that data breach (significant coverage). Thus, it does make sense, if keep is the result, to rename this article and refactor it around the company's data breach and, optionally, about its bankruptcy, eh? Doug Mehus T · C  01:42, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, half of the body of the article is already about the bankruptcy and data breach. So a renamed article could have a condensed introductory section about NCIX's history and background and then the primary focus of the article would be about the bankruptcy and the data breach. Cunard (talk) 01:48, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
 * , Formatting-wise, can you think of some similar articles where we've focused an article on a particular event (or two) of a company? I'm just thinking of the categories, tags, and all of that, in terms of updating this article post-close (assuming keep and refactor is the result). Doug Mehus T · C  01:59, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, here are some examples of articles about data breaches: 2014 JPMorgan Chase data breach, Anthem medical data breach, 2018 Google data breach, and Ashley Madison data breach. There are more examples in Category:Data breaches and its subcategories. Thanks, Cunard (talk) 02:04, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
 * , Thanks! That's great. I was also going to add it to an article that includes a chronological list of company data breaches. Doug Mehus T · C  16:37, 11 November 2019 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.