Cyberattack affects personal information of SickKids employees in Toronto
He Hospital for Sick Children, known as SickKids, is investigating a cybersecurity incident that allowed unauthorized access to personal information of some of its current and former employees, as well as people who have applied for jobs at the institution.
The incident was related to a vulnerability in a third-party software program used by SickKids and other organizations. The problem temporarily affected the hospital’s jobs website, which was later restored.
After detecting the situation, the hospital launched an investigation with the participation of external cybersecurity specialists. As a result of the initial inquiries, SickKids determined that the information of some current and former employees of SickKids, Boomerang and SickKids Foundation, in addition to some job applicants, could have been compromised.
So far, the institution has not reported how many people were affected or specified what categories of personal information were exposed. The investigation is ongoing to determine the full extent of the incident.
Patient care systems were not affected
One of the elements that SickKids It has been emphasized that the incident was limited to information related to employees and hiring processes. Clinical systems and patient information were not accessed, according to the available information on the investigation.
The situation occurs almost four years after SickKids It will face another serious cybersecurity incident. In December 2022, the hospital was the victim of an attack by ransomware This caused disruptions to some of its internal systems and temporarily affected certain operations. At the time, the hospital reported that there was no evidence that personal or patient health information had been compromised.
SickKids The investigation remains open to determine how the unauthorized access occurred, what information may have been obtained, and what additional measures should be implemented to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
Written by: Karen Rodríguez A.