VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) -
BC's privacy commissioner is investigating what she calls two deeply disturbing privacy breaches. In the first case, someone lost a laptop at Toronto's airport containing information of 450 patients of the
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
The files weren't encrypted and assistant privacy commissioner Catherine Tully says that shouldn't have happened.
"We're always concerned when personal information goes astray. We do have guidelines that we issued in 2005 that make clear that electronic records containing personal information should be encrypted when in transport."
She says anyone who thinks their information might have been on the computer should contact Vancouver Coastal Health immediately.
"They would usually have somebody available there to talk to you about what happened in the breach, whether your information was involved and what information was involved," adds Tully.
The second case involves
Ministry of Children and Family Development records being left in a dumpster behind a Saanich apartment building last week.
The investigations will look into which steps were taken to contain the breaches and whether they were properly evaluated. Investigators will also examine whether a comprehensive plan to prevent similar breaches from happening in the future was developed.