Vancouver Coastal Health hit by cyberattack, but says 'no evidence' data stolen

(Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press)

Vancouver — An investigation into a cyberattack at Vancouver Coastal Health turned up "no evidence" that data was stolen, according to officials.

The health authority said malicious ransomware was discovered in data related to its Employee and Family Assistance Program on May 21, and that officials responded by bringing in external cybersecurity experts to investigate.

"The investigation of this cyberattack is now complete and there is no evidence any data has been removed or misused from EFAP computers," Vancouver Coastal Health said in a news release on Thursday.

The Employee and Family Assistance Program offers counselling and other services to workers and their family members, and health officials told CTV News there's no personal data on members of the general public stored on the system.

Vancouver Coastal Health said it's reaching out to anyone who used the program between 2015 and 2020 to alert them about what happened, and is offering free credit monitoring services as a precaution.

Employees were not previously alerted about the breach back in May, the health authority said, but officials did quickly inform B.C.'s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner about the incident.