Manitoba health minister says cybersecurity priority after hospital attack

WINNIPEG – Manitoba’s health minister said the government is working with cybersecurity experts following a ransomware attack at the province’s largest hospital, while the union representing nurses is concerned about security risks for its members. 

Shared Health, the body that manages health care in the province, announced on Monday that it was dealing with an attack affecting certain facility maintenance systems, including heating, ventilation and cooling systems, and door access at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. 

Uzoma Asagwara, minister of health, told reporters at an unrelated event that cybersecurity is a priority for the NDP government. 

“The experts are working hard to address the issue and make sure that patient care remains uninterrupted,” Asagwara said on Tuesday. 

“That really is the top priority, making sure that Manitobans continue to get the care that they need, and that is exactly what’s going on.”

Shared Health has not said when the breach occurred, whether it has been addressed or if the hackers made demands.

It said in a statement on Monday that patient care and clinical operations remain unaffected and fully operational.

“Clinical services continue uninterrupted, and based on the investigation conducted to date, there is no indication that patients have been affected,” Anya Willis, communications specialist with Shared Health, said in an email on Tuesday after The Canadian Press asked for an update. 

The hospital is investigating the breach, which includes a “thorough review” of affected systems, Shared Health has said. 

The province was notified and the health body is working with third-party experts to resolve the incident. 

Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said it is troubling that the breach is affecting some of the door access at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre after the union declared the hospital too dangerous to work at last year because of safety concerns.

“If there has been a breach that allows doors to be unlocked, that is a big concern for us,” she said.

Jackson is not aware of which doors have been impacted, but she said that she heard Shared Health has sent security guards to man the entrances.

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives pointed to a 2024 report from the province’s auditor general that called for better cybersecurity at Shared Health. 

“This government was warned two years ago that they needed to act and they failed,” said MLA Kathleen Cook. “Clearly they are not taking the informed investigations of the auditor general seriously.”

Tyson Shtykalo, Manitoba’s auditor general, said the health-care body has a process to respond to cyberattacks but has not been running tests for scenarios such as ransomware or data theft. 

The report recommended annual testing and more training for cybersecurity incident response team members.

Asagwara said the government takes Shtykalo’s recommendations seriously but did not elaborate on what Shared Health has done. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2026.