Around 500 Interior Health staff members have had their personal information compromised.
The health authority said in late June it was notified by Lower Mainland RCMP that someone police arrested had personal information belonging to IH employees.
The compromised personal information includes employee’s names, addresses, social insurance numbers, telephone numbers and birth dates.
IH said that on Sept. 20 the health authority got a similar report from police in the Lower Mainland related to the arrest of a different person.
The health authority said that after the first incident it started an internal investigation and has now also brought in external security and privacy experts.
“We take this seriously, including the distress this situation may cause for our staff, and have moved quickly to investigate this matter,” said Mal Griffin the health authority’s vice-president for human resources.
“It’s unclear how this information was obtained, but we see some linkages between the two incidents which has resulted in us enlisting the support of external security consultants.”
IH said that it has notified all the current employees who had their information compromised and is currently working on contacting the former employees who were impacted.
The health authority said it is offering them credit-monitoring services for a year.
IH said no patient information was compromised.