First Nations Health Authority in B.C. hit by cyberattack

B.C.’s First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) says it was hit by a “cybersecurity incident” involving some employees and other personal information.

In a statement, FNHA says on Monday, May 13, it found “unusual activity” on its corporate network.

“We took immediate action to investigate this activity and intercepted an unauthorized entity who had gained access to our corporate network,” FNHA said in the statement.

The health authority says it immediately took action to block the “unauthorized entity” from further access. As a result of immediate action, it says there was no encryption of the health authority’s servers or systems.

FNHA says it also hired third-party cybersecurity experts to help remediate and conduct a forensic investigation of the incident.

“We have also reported this incident to law enforcement and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia,” it said.

It says the investigation is in its early stages, but it knows that some information has been compromised.

“FNHA has uncovered evidence that certain employee information and limited personal information of others has been impacted,” it said. “FNHA has taken and continues to take immediate action to issue required notifications to impacted individuals and to otherwise provide support.”

The authority does not know if the incident has impacted any clinical information systems that it uses, and does not know if this incident is connected to any other cyber incidents in B.C.

Last month, London Drugs was also hit by a cybersecurity incident that has now been confirmed as a ransomware attack that had forced the retailer to close all its stores in Western Canada.

The BC Public Service had also revealed early this month that a “state or state-sponsored actor” was behind cyberattacks against the provincial government’s networks.