YELLOWKNIFE, NWT – In his latest annual report, information and privacy commissioner Andrew Fox (pictured) said his office received notice of several “significant breaches of privacy” involving the COVID-19 Secretariat’s use of email. “It is apparent that privacy breaches are too frequently caused by staff who are under-resourced, or untrained in, or unaware of the policies and procedures governing privacy protection,” Fox wrote.
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ORANGEVILLE, Ont. – Headwaters Health Care Centre has confirmed the cause of suspicious email activity that led to the shutdown of their internal systems, and the closure of the COVID-19 assessment centre.
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ST. JOHN’S – A cyberattack appears to be behind a provincewide disruption of healthcare services in Newfoundland and Labrador that has affected thousands of appointments and procedures, including those involving COVID-19 testing.
“We may have been victims of a possible cyberattack by a third party,” said Health Minister John Haggie at a news conference.
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KEMPTVILLE, Ont. – The Kemptville hospital has reopened its emergency department, with the help of other local hospitals, as an investigation continues into a “cybersecurity incident” that caused a hospital-wide IT shutdown.
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TORONTO – Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) says a list of staff who are unvaccinated for COVID-19, have a medical reason for not being vaccinated, or haven’t declared their vaccination status, was accidentally emailed out to dozens of people in what a UHN spokesperson called a “breach of privacy.”
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FREDERICTON – The parents of a 16-year-old girl who committed suicide were initially prevented from seeing their daughter’s medical records at Horizon Health, where she went for treatment. The parents of Lexi Daken (pictured) are now being allowed to see the records – but only her last two visits, and only by agreeing not to share the records with media or other third parties, except legal advisers.
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SAINT JOHN, N.B. – An employee at the Charlotte County Hospital in St. Stephen, N.B. has been dismissed after the individual “inappropriately accessed” the personal health information of 1,251 people. The Horizon Health Network is calling it a “significant privacy breach.” The health authority hasn't confirmed the period of time in which the breaches occurred.
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TORONTO – Humber River Hospital is continuing to work through the shutdown of its computer systems in response to an extensive malware attack last week. The hospital had deactivated all of its computers as a safety precaution against the attack, which was a form of ransomware. Because the organization caught the malware early, it believes that it avoided the loss of data and has not received demands for a ransom.
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TORONTO – The Humber River Hospital – one of Canada’s most computerized hospitals – announced that it suffered a malware attack on Monday morning that led the organization to shut down all its information technology systems and to declare a Code Grey, meaning the loss of essential services.
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WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority announced that in March 2021, a bag belonging to a Home Care employee of the WRHA was stolen from her vehicle. The bag contained information pertaining to the employee's daily schedule of activities, including personal health information for her clients.
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