Class-action lawsuit filed against Interior Health over 2009 data breach [Video]

British Columbia’s Interior Health Authority has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over a data breach in 2009 that allegedly compromised thousands of employees’ personal information that ended up being sold on the dark web.

The lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday says the data breach occurred in December 2009, exposing “highly sensitive” personal information belonging to people who worked for the health authority between 2003 and 2009.

Court documents say the information was accessed by “cybercriminals and other malicious actors,” and the “full extent” of the hack still hasn’t been disclosed by Interior Health in the 16 years since.

Former employee Rae Fergus, one of the lead plaintiffs, says her personal information has been used since 2022 to fraudulently get a car loan and a credit card, and to open a bank account without her “knowledge or consent.”