Privacy Breach Responsible for Leaked of Sexual Childhood Trauma
Who: A Dartmouth, N.S., woman
# of Accounts Breached: 1
What was affected: Personal information. “Assessments, details of the sexual trauma that I had experienced, my birth certificate, interviews with myself as a child,” she said.
When it happened: February 2018
How it happened: In mid-April, 2018, she received a letter from the provincial government saying her file was one of more than 7,000 downloaded from the province’s unsecured portal. The records were accessible without a password by incrementally changing numbers at the end of the portal’s web address.
Outcome: Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that financial damages are appropriate for victims of a privacy violation, ranging from a nominal amount to up to $20,000.