CarePartners experiences data breach

KITCHENER, Ont. – CarePartners, a home care service provider to Ontario’s Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and an Ontario-based community healthcare agency, disclosed through a news release that it “has become the victim of a cyber-attack by sophisticated actors.”

The cyber-attack breached CarePartners’ computer system and as a result patient and employee information held in that system, including personal health and financial information, has been inappropriately accessed by the perpetrators.

The organization did not say how many records had been accessed; it did not say whether the identities of the perpetrators were known.

Acting immediately in partnership with Ontario’s LHINs, CarePartners took direct steps to prevent additional exposure and to close vulnerabilities.

CarePartners retained Herjavec Group (HG), a leading cyber security firm, to contain and determine the extent of the breach. The Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner and law enforcement officials have also been contacted and engaged.

In addition, LHINs and CarePartners voluntarily suspended the online referral system’s capacity to receive patient assignments from Ontario’s LHINs until the breach is fully contained and vulnerabilities are fully closed.

Throughout this situation, patient care has not been compromised, the organization said.

CarePartners said it will provide ongoing credit monitoring for any individual whose personal data may have been breached. Information regarding credit monitoring and answers to other questions can been found online at: Ontario LHINs or www.carepartners.ca, or by calling 1-844-337-7300.