[BreachExchange] N.W.T. faces lawsuit over health data breach that could affect all residents

[Destry Winant]

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/09/12/nwt-faces-lawsuit-over-health-data-breach-that-could-affect-all-residents.html

The Northwest Territories is facing a lawsuit over a stolen laptop
containing medical files that could include information on every
resident in the territory.

“I would be surprised if it’s anything less than 100 per cent,” said
Steven Cooper, an Edmonton lawyer who has filed a statement of claim
in the N.W.T. Supreme Court.

“The government of the Northwest Territories, despite repeated
breaches, doesn’t seem to know how to control this information.”

The lawsuit stems from a government-owned laptop that was stolen from
inside a parked vehicle in Ottawa in May 2018. The laptop has never
been found.

On that computer were thousands of unencrypted medical files of people
who sought medical attention in the territory, including visitors.
It’s not clear what time period the files cover.

The government has acknowledged that at least 80 per cent of the
territory’s residents were part of the breach.

A spokesman for the territorial government, which is in the middle of
an election, declined comment. Damien Healy said the government hadn’t
yet received notice of the claim.

A statement of defence has not yet been filed.