Canada

The provincial agency overseeing Ontario’s home care system was informed about a massive data breach in April, Global News has learned, more than two months before the public, along with hundreds of thousands of impacted patients, were notified.

Ontario Health atHome, a Crown agency recently created by the Ford government to coordinate resources for home care and palliative patients, has been under scrutiny after a cyberattack that impacted one of its vendors was kept under wraps for months.

The attack, believed to have affected as many as 200,000 patients, took place sometime in March but was only revealed to the public in late June.

Now, officials with the agency have confirmed that they were made aware of a cybersecurity incident as early as April 14, but waited until the end of May to inform Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner — as required by law — and until June 27 to tell patients.

“On April 14, Ontario Medical Supply (OMS) notified Ontario Health atHome that it was experiencing system outages and a potential cyberattack impacting their information system and operations,” a spokesperson for Ontario Health atHome told Global News.

The latest revelation has led to accusations of “deception” by the health agency, which indirectly reports to Health Minister Sylvia Jones.