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Update:
- Ontario’s Superior Court approved a $3.4 million class action settlement made by Ontario-based private health care services provider CarePartners to resolve claims revolving around a 2018 data breach.
- CarePartners previously agreed to the settlement to end claims it broke numerous laws by not preventing a 2018 data breach that exposed the private information of hundreds of thousands of its patients and staff members.
- Patients claimed in a subsequent complaint against CarePartners that it had “inadequate and outdated” security systems and twas guilty of negligence, among other things.
- Hackers behind the breach reportedly tried to obtain a ransom from CarePartners — with the provider refusing to participate— in return for not publicly disclosing the stolen data.
- Bad actors reportedly sent some of the stolen private information to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
CarePartners data breach class action settlement overview:
- Who: CarePartners, an Ontario-based private health care services provider, has agreed to pay $3.44 million to settle class action claims with patients and staff members.
- Why: The plaintiffs allege that CarePartners breached numerous laws by allowing a 2018 data breach that exposed hundreds-of-thousands of patients’ sensitive personal information.
- Where: The case was settled in the Ontario Superior Court of Canada.
(Dec. 16, 2021)
A private healthcare provider in Ontario has agreed to pay $3.44 million to settle claims it was responsible for a 2018 data breach that resulted in hundreds of thousands of patients’ and staff members’ sensitive personal information being exposed to hackers.
The proposed settlement has been agreed upon and will go to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for approval Feb. 9, 2022, Canadian Lawyer reports.
CarePartners’ system was hacked in June 2018, according to the lawsuit. At the time, the health care provider had over 4,500 employees and contractors handheld records pertaining to approximately 237,000 patients.
The hacked data included medical records, financial information, employment records and personal contact information. CarePartners offers out-of-hospital care to patients at their homes, schools or workplaces.
Hackers Sent Some Information to the Canadian Broadcasting Company In An Attempt To Extort Ransom
According to lawyers for the plaintiffs, the hackers accessed the information and then sent some of it to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an attempt to extort a ransom from CarePartners.
The plaintiffs, Arthur Redublo and Donna Moher, sued CarePartners for breach of privacy, breach of contract, negligence and other statutes due to its “inadequate and outdated” security systems.
According to the settlement, any patient or non-unionized employee who had their personal health information or personal information produced to CBC can claim compensation. The amount each person receives will depend on how many people apply and are eligible for compensation.
Although federal regulations and state laws are in place to protect medical records from wrongful disclosure; unfortunately, they don’t always prevent cybercriminals from accessing medical records that are stored electronically.
Significantly, there were more than 600 health care related data breaches in 2020, affecting nearly 29 million medical records. Click here for everything you need to know about healthcare data breaches.
Do you trust your healthcare provider to keep your sensitive data safe? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP, Waddell Phillips PC and Schneider Law Firm.
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