First Nations Health Service says “unauthorized entity” accessed corporate network
Health officials across the state are now calling the incident a “cybersecurity incident” that affected employee data and “limited personal information of others,” but not clinical information systems. is investigating.
The First Nations Health Service said in a statement on Tuesday (May 22) that it discovered “unusual activity on its corporate network” on May 13.
“While the investigation is still in its early stages, FNHA has found evidence that certain employee information and other limited personal information was affected,” the agency said. It was not clear from the statement how many employees or third parties were affected and to what extent. FNHA added that it continues to work with affected individuals. “FNHA does not have evidence that this cyber incident impacted any clinical information systems used by the company.”
FNHA announced that it took immediate investigative action after this activity was discovered and an “unauthorized party” who had accessed the company's network was intercepted.
The FNHA said it took immediate steps to prevent further unauthorized access, hiring a third-party cybersecurity expert and notifying police and B.C.'s Information and Privacy Commissioner.
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The FNHA statement did not say anything about the identity, location or motives of the “unauthorized entity” that accessed the company's corporate systems, but it seemed to rule out the possibility of a so-called ransomware attack, in which hackers lock systems and demand payment in exchange for regaining control.
“As a result, FNHA's servers and systems were not encrypted,” it said.
News of the cybersecurity incident comes as provincial authorities continue to investigate a “highly sophisticated operation” against government networks that appears to have come from outside Canada's borders.
The FNHA said in a release that the two issues are unrelated.
“The FNHA has no evidence that this cyber incident is in any way related to other cyber incidents in British Columbia that have recently received media attention,” it said.
Since 2013, the FNHA has provided programs and services previously provided by Health Canada to more than 200 Indigenous communities across British Columbia.
