Cybersecurity incident in P.E.I. affects up to 234,000 people: health authority

Advertisement

Advertise with us

CHARLOTTETOWN - The health authority in P.E.I. says someone has gained unauthorized access to a file containing personal information belonging to as many as 234,000 people.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

CHARLOTTETOWN – The health authority in P.E.I. says someone has gained unauthorized access to a file containing personal information belonging to as many as 234,000 people.

Health PEI says in a statement that the cybersecurity incident was reported Sept. 7 and involves a company providing services to the authority.

The health authority did not name the company.

The Prince Edward Island provincial flag flies on a flagpole in Ottawa, Friday, July 24, 2026 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The Prince Edward Island provincial flag flies on a flagpole in Ottawa, Friday, July 24, 2026 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The authority says the company’s file was created in 2011 and contained health-card information, including names, birthdays, genders, personal health numbers and details about medicare eligibility.

Those affected had a P.E.I. health card in or before 2011, or were non-residents who received health services on the Island between 2008 and 2011.

Laurae Kloschinsky, interim CEO of Health PEI, says the risk that this information will be misused is low.

Health PEI says the province’s privacy commissioner has been called in to investigate.

“We recognize that learning about a privacy incident involving personal health information may be concerning,” Kloschinsky said in a statement. 

“We take the privacy and protection of personal health information seriously and are notifying the public to be transparent and to ensure potentially affected individuals are aware of the incident.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published 

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Blown lead spoils Jets opener

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Preview

Blown lead spoils Jets opener

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Younger. Faster. Stronger.

They may still be a long ways from a finished product, but it’s safe to say the new-look Winnipeg Jets made a mostly favourable first impression on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre.

Sure, a 4-3 overtime loss to a hard-nosed Boston Bruins outfit is going to sting a little, especially since the home team was just 98 seconds away from a regulation victory.

But if the Jets can bottle up this kind of energy and effort, they should enjoy plenty of success over the course of the 84-game campaign.

Read
Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Winnipeggers witness unveiling of Japanese Canadian monument in B.C.

Morgan Modjeski 6 minute read Preview

Winnipeggers witness unveiling of Japanese Canadian monument in B.C.

Morgan Modjeski 6 minute read Yesterday at 8:39 PM CDT

As Miki Stewart gathered with her family at the Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba on Saturday afternoon, she was thinking of her parents, Yoshimaru and Yoshi Abe.

Both Stewart, 80, and her sister Yumi Falk, 81, alongside an older brother, were born in the Tashme internment camp in British Columbia. They were among more than 2,600 Japanese Canadians who were forcefully removed and interred at the camp following the bombing of Pearl Harbour and Canada’s declaration of war on Japan in 1941.

“They didn’t talk much about how they suffered,” Stewart said of her parents. “But they did.”

She was amongst a group of more than 150 people who gathered at the association’s McPhillips headquarters on Saturday afternoon to watch the unveiling of the Japanese Canadian Monument in Victoria B.C.

Read
Yesterday at 8:39 PM CDT

Manitoba’s own Summer Howell takes on biggest role yet as Stephen King’s telekinetic teen Carrie

Randall King 7 minute read Preview

Manitoba’s own Summer Howell takes on biggest role yet as Stephen King’s telekinetic teen Carrie

Randall King 7 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

From the tender age of eight, actress Summer Howell has made her presence known in a series of horror films shot in her home province of Manitoba.

Her first film was Curse of Chucky (2013), director Don Mancini’s continuation of the venerable killer doll series he started (as a screenwriter) in 1988 with Child’s Play.

“Even then, it was obvious she was very talented, intelligent and delightful,” Mancini said of Howell.

Though she has worked in other genres, Howell gravitated to horror repeatedly, with credits in Shawn Linden’s harrowing Hunter Hunter (2020) and the 2023 possession thriller All Fun and Games. Earlier this year, she shot the horror film Sundown in Winnipeg with director Rebekah McKendry, which premièred last week at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles and is headed for a streaming berth on Shudder.

Read
Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Volunteer pop-up library axed from Manitoba Youth Centre

Matthew Frank 4 minute read Preview

Volunteer pop-up library axed from Manitoba Youth Centre

Matthew Frank 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:25 AM CDT

Manitoba Corrections has cancelled a pop-up library program at the Manitoba Youth Centre, leaving inmates without librarian services and fewer options to borrow certain books.

The Prison Libraries Committee, part of the non-profit Manitoba Library Association, operated and funded the volunteer program since 2024 before it was shut down by the province last month. The group previously partnered with the province to offer the service because the facility has no dedicated library of its own.

“It is concerning that community members who are incarcerated, especially youth, are losing out on meaningful programming, access to information and rehabilitation efforts, which are offered at no cost to (Manitoba) Corrections. We urge Manitoba Justice to promote more library services and programming, not less,” said a Sept. 24 letter from the non-profit addressed to the justice minister.

Ashley Huot, chair of the Prison Libraries Committee, said she was puzzled when she received an email last month from Manitoba Corrections stating that the pop-up library was no longer needed.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 11:25 AM CDT

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

Morning-show veteran swaps microphone for macchiatos at new Corydon café

David Sanderson 9 minute read Preview

Morning-show veteran swaps microphone for macchiatos at new Corydon café

David Sanderson 9 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Good news if you were used to having your morning coffee with Terri Gale, who earlier this summer signed off from CTV Your Morning, after 15 years on the job.

Gale, the three-hour program’s longtime weather expert, and her husband Rob Gale, the ex-head soccer coach of Valour FC and co-founder of the Northern Super League’s new Winnipeg franchise, are the owners of Golden Hour Café and Bar at 775 Corydon Ave.

Gale (formerly Apostle) nods when she is asked who would know more about caffeinated beverages than a person who, for the last decade and a half, set her alarm to go off in the wee small hours.

“I do love coffee and take mine black. Except because I hate burning my tongue — not a good thing when you speak for a living — I got into the habit of throwing a couple of ice cubes in my cup, to be on the safe side,” Gale says, seated on the second level of their attractive, 2,100-square-foot premises, which officially opened in mid-September.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT