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Privacy breach in B.C. points to need for policies in Yukon: commissioner


February 2, 2016   by Chuck Tobin, Whitehorse Star THE CANADIAN PRESS


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WHITEHORSE – A privacy breach involving the personal information of 3.4 million former students in British Columbia has Yukon’s privacy commissioner urging the territorial government to implement policies that would protect its residents.

B.C.’s Ministry of Education lost a hard drive containing information such as birth dates, student numbers and cancer outcomes for high school students

Diane McLeod-McKay said Friday that only the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board has such a policy in place.

On Thursday, B.C.’s privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham released a report saying the Education Ministry lost a hard drive containing information such as birth dates, student numbers and cancer outcomes for high school students.

The information collected between 1986 and 2009 involved about 8,000 students from Yukon.

McLeod-McKay said the Yukon files contain records of academic performance as well as names, addresses, birth dates and personal education numbers.

“I am not wanting to make people afraid,” she said of the potential for identity theft. “I am letting people know this information is out there.”

Related: B.C. launches review of ministries’ management of personal information after search for back-up drive comes up empty

McLeod-McKay said she’s concerned the Yukon Department of Education has not yet received a list of students whose information is missing in British Columbia.

Student information from Yukon is shared with B.C. because the territory uses the B.C. curriculum.

McLeod-McKay said it’s Yukon’s responsibility to ensure that information pertaining to its residents is secure and protected.

B.C.’s Education Ministry learned about the breach last summer when it was conducting an internal information audit.

Related: All IT systems in B.C. vulnerable to threats: Auditor General

It notified Yukon in mid-September, the same day it went public with information about the breach.

In her investigation report, B.C.’s privacy commissioner said the breach occurred because employees with the Education ministry did not follow privacy policies.

The Education Ministry has notified former students of the breach. Denham’s office said there is no indication that the information has been used in any nefarious way.

McLeod-McKay has been stressing the need for privacy management programs since taking on the position two and a half years ago. She said the government directed departments to develop such programs last October. (Whitehorse Star)


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