A demand for payment was made by the hacker, but a Bell spokesmen said it was not paid.

"No one is recommending that we go any further but there needs to be some sort of administrative access to basic subscriber information, like a phone book."

A new administrative scheme that would allow police to obtain basic information about Internet subscribers without a warrant is one option being considered by federal officials following a landmark Supreme Court ruling that curbed access to such data, Canadian police chiefs say.