Wiertz Sebastien - Privacy by Sebastien Wiertz (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ahk6nh

Wiertz Sebastien - Privacy by Sebastien Wiertz (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ahk6nh

Privacy

Your Information is Not Secure: Thousands of Government Privacy Breaches Point to Need for Reform

As Canadians focused last week on the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and the RCMP arrests of two men accused of plotting to attack Via Rail, the largest sustained series of privacy breaches in Canadian history was uncovered but attracted only limited attention.  Canadians have faced high profile data breaches in the past – Winners/HomeSense and the CIBC were both at the centre of serious breaches several years ago – but last week, the federal government revealed that it may represent the biggest risk to the privacy of millions of Canadians as some government departments have suffered breaches virtually every 48 hours.

The revelations came as a result of questions from NDP MP Charlie Angus, who sought information on data, information or privacy breaches in all government departments from 2002 to 2012.  The resulting documentation is stunning in its breadth.

My weekly technology column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that virtually every major government department has sustained breaches, with the majority occurring over the past five years (many did not retain records dating back to 2002). In numerous instances, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada was not advised of the breach.

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April 30, 2013 8 comments Columns

Your Information is Not Secure: Thousands of Government Privacy Breaches Point to Need for Reform

Appeared in the Toronto Star on April 27, 2013 as Your Information is Not Secure in Ottawa As Canadians focused last week on the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and the RCMP arrests of two men accused of plotting to attack Via Rail, the largest sustained series of privacy […]

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April 29, 2013 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Ethics Committee Releases Study on Privacy and Social Media

The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics has released its study on privacy and social media. The report includes recommendations for new Privacy Commissioner guidelines. The NDP supplemented those recommendations with nine additional legislative proposals that include mandatory security breach disclosure, order making power for the Privacy […]

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April 23, 2013 1 comment News

Government Reveals Thousands of Data and Privacy Breaches

The federal government has responded to a question from MP Charlie Angus on privacy and security breaches by revealing that there have been thousands of breaches over the past decade. The stunning response acknowledges over 3,000 breaches that have affected over a million Canadians.

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April 23, 2013 Comments are Disabled News

NDP MP Charmaine Borg Tries To Kickstart Canada’s Dormant Privacy Reform

As reports of yet another government security breach emerge, NDP MP Charmaine Borg has at least tried to kickstart the government’s dormant private sector privacy reform efforts with a private member’s bill that would add mandatory security breach disclosure requirements to the law along with new order making power. The […]

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February 27, 2013 1 comment News