Prince Edward Island’s health authority says a cyberattack at one of its contractors may have handed an intruder a file from 2011 listing health card details for roughly 234,000 people.
The target was a vendor the province relies on, Maximus Canada, according to the authority’s Monday statement.
Interim CEO Laurae Kloschinsky put the ceiling at about 234,000 individuals and said the authority judges the risk to be low, since a health card number is not the kind of identification used to apply for a passport.
The authority’s release offers almost no detail on how the incident happened, saying only that an “unauthorized person” obtained a copy of the 2011 file that held health card information.
The file could cover anyone who held a P.E.I. health card in or before 2011. Also in scope are people who were not residents but were treated on the Island at some point from 2008 to 2011.
Its contents may include a first and last name, date of birth and gender. It may also list a person’s P.E.I. personal health number, Medicare eligibility and, where it applies, a date of death.
The authority said it is contacting affected residents. Its interim CEO added that the province’s own systems sit behind extra layers of protection and that the authority is pressing partners to follow the same practices. Questions go to the privacy office at 1-800-375-3503.
