A comprehensive review of a privacy breach involving the personal information of about 500 current and former Interior Health employees has been completed.
The review, which was conducted with the assistance of an external privacy and security expert, found no evidence of further breaches.
The initial breach came to light as part of RCMP investigations and arrests in the Lower Mainland in June and September and was limited to employee information.
The two-month review was unable to determine how the breach occurred, but it was able to identify a likely time frame of December 2009.
That’s when unknown access to an Interior Health employee database appears to have occurred.
This database contained the personal information of all individuals employed with Interior Health between January 2003 and December 2009.
Included in that are social insurance numbers, dates of birth, emails, mailing addresses, phone numbers and former last names.
“We are stressing to these individuals there is no indication their information has been breached or used in an unlawful way,” says Mal Griffin, vice-president for human resources.
“Still, we want employees to be aware that the 2009 database was unknowingly accessed and they should be diligent, as we all should be, with personal information.”
Interior Health is urging current and former employees who worked in the health authority during that timeframe to take extra precautions with their personal information.
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