Canopy Support Services disclosed a data breach on Thursday (November 5), saying an unauthorized party accessed a server containing clients’ personal health information.
The Peterborough-based organization provides services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Its primary service area includes Durham, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Peterborough.
According to a public notice published on its website, Canopy discovered on August 13 that part of its legacy file server was inaccessible. An investigation by cybersecurity experts determined unauthorized access had occurred on July 30, when certain files containing personal information about clients were encrypted.
Potentially affected information includes client names, birth dates, contact details, diagnoses, psychological reports, behaviour and crisis management plans, and other care records. Canopy says not every category of information was necessarily encrypted for each client.
The affected legacy file server was being retained as a backup after Canopy has migrated the files to a cloud-based system. Since the files were available in the cloud, the encrypted copies were restored from recent, clean backups.
“No client information was lost,” the announcement states. “Our operations remained fully functional throughout the incident, with no interruption to services.”
The announcement does not explain the interval between discovery and public disclosure of the data breach, how many clients were affected, or whether information was copied or removed.
However, as part of the announcement, Canopy has provided a reference guide for protecting personal information, including warnings about potential scams, unsolicited communication appearing to come from Canopy, and signs of identity theft.
Canopy says it has reported the incident to Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, which it says is investigating.
People with questions can contact Canopy’s support term of external specialists at 1-888-305-8452, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“We value our clients’ trust and regret any concern this incident may have caused,” the announcement states. “We are committed to further improving our security and will continue to dedicate our efforts to prevent this from happening again in the future.”
Canopy’s programs include adult case management and protective services, autism services, behavioural consultation, and support for young people transitioning to adult services. Its main office is located at 150 O’Carroll Avenue in Peterborough.
