Personal data: several compromised medical information near Telus
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was recently notified of the incident.
The same is true of the Privacy Commissioner's Office.
First, the problem has been going back on Wednesday last week. One of the telus Group's subsidiaries, Health Company Medisys Inc., confirmed that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack. The institution's officials claimed to have paid the ransom demanded by cyber criminals. Several thousand of its customers had been affected by the cyberattack.
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The information then compromised is of various nature. These include addresses, telephone numbers, names and first names, medical test results, consultation reports, medical prescriptions and many others of a medical nature. The extent of corrupt information is quite large. "I can confirm that the data obtained has been safely recovered and deleted to significantly reduce the risk of it being disclosed. We have also hired cybersecurity specialists who continue to monitor the Internet and the Dark Web," said Mariane St-Maurice, a spokeswoman for the company, Mariane St-Maurice.
According to the latter, the information referred to here has not been falsified by cyber criminals. It adds that the incident has already been reported to the relevant institutions, namely the Privacy Commissioner and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It also means that some of the information such as insurance numbers and other financial statements were not affected by the compromise.
It should also be noted that the Telus subsidiary, Medisys, which specializes in preventive medicine, owns a Montreal-based clinic on the Boulevard de Maisonneuve West. Reputed to have several public contracts with the Quebec government. It is recalled that on August 31, during the security breach detected in its computer system, the company had mentioned that it had carried out several rigorous investigations in-house.
But it is noted that the security breach affected 5% of the company's customers. And it's been a month now. This is because "the transaction was very complex," says the Telus subsidiary. "The approach adopted included working with internationally recognized experts. They took the time and effort to give us a complete picture of the situation," she explains as justification. The investigations eventually reportedly mentioned "that this was a ransomware attack that affected about 5% of our customers," Medisys said in a statement.
"Our main goal is to protect the privacy of our customers, so we paid a ransom to recover the relevant data. We have fixed the problem and our systems are fully restored and functioning normally," Medisys adds, telling customers that there is "no cause for concern."
According to the company, those directly affected by the computer attack will be contacted directly. And it will be done either by phone call or by having an email. They will also be provided with a free protection service over a period of 5 years, with identity theft insurance to support it.
Medisys promises to continue the effort to improve its computer systems and network "so that nothing is left to chance to protect the security of our customers' data." In addition, the health group has set up a special toll-free hotline for citizens who believe they have been a victim of this cyberattack. To do this, call 1833-232-2011, available between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day of the week.
In recent months, cyberattacks in Canada have affected nearly 48,500 users of several federal services, the Canada Revenue Agency. This figure is likely to increase as things continue to evolve.
In addition, Canada has been one of the countries most affected by computer attacks since the beginning of the year. Even in 2019, Canada's infrastructure has not been spared by this wave of cybercrime. Perhaps the experience will allow them to improve their understanding of the issue of computer security.
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