Cyber attacks on the increase, expert says
July 26, 2023
OTTAWA – The head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security says ransomware attacks are getting more common and sophisticated, but there’s a lot the country could do to better defend itself. “The threat is real, the threat is growing and we can’t talk enough about it,” said Sami Khoury (pictured), whose organization is aimed at providing the federal government with information technology security and foreign signals intelligence.
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VICTORIA – A BC nurse has been suspended for snooping on medical records she had no right to. According to a July 6 BC College of Nurses and Midwives decision, Jacqueline Bureau has been suspended for six weeks for accessing the electronic health records of eight individuals who weren’t in her care.
HALIFAX – One hundred thousand current and former employees of Nova Scotia Health, the IWK Health Centre, and the public service have had their payroll information stolen – including their social insurance numbers, addresses, and banking information.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – The ransomware attack that hit Newfoundland and Labrador’s healthcare IT systems in 2021 was “almost an inevitability” and resulted in the theft of personal data from the “vast majority” of the province’s population, says a report released at the end of May.
OTTAWA – The Queensway Carleton Hospital sent out public notices of a data breach last week and is contacting patients individually. Up to 100,000 patients could be affected, the hospital said, and police have been notified.
CORNWALL, Ont. – Last week, Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH) identified a network issue which an investigation has revealed to be a cyber incident. On its website, the hospital said it has retained external cyber experts to work with its technical team to resolve the issue. It has also informed its regional stakeholders, including law enforcement and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
IQALUIT, Nunavut – Nunavut’s information and privacy commissioner is asking the territorial government to consider prosecuting a doctor who accessed a colleague’s health records without any medical reason to do so. In a review report, Graham Steele (pictured) detailed how a doctor viewed a colleague’s records numerous times over the span of 18 months following “a workplace incident.”
HALIFAX – As part of an ongoing investigation, more than 1,200 privacy breaches were discovered at Nova Scotia Health. The effort began in August 2020, when the organization discovered eight employees snooping into the electronic health records of people associated with the mass casualty events of April 18 and 19, 2020.