Ontario’s privacy commissioner and Ontario Health are investigating a reported data breach affecting Ontario Health atHome, the province’s home-care coordination service.
The incident may have exposed personal health information for at least 200,000 home-care patients, the Ontario Liberals alleged in a news release Friday morning.
The breach occurred on or around March 17 of this year but was not made public, the Liberals say.
“If exposed, this data can lead to identity theft, insurance fraud, discrimination, stigmatization, phishing, and blackmail,” the news release read.
Speaking at an unrelated news conference on Friday, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the incident involved a third-party vendor.
She said Ontario Health and Ontario Health AtHome are investigating the situation and will notify individual patients as needed.
More at CBC News.