Lakelands discloses cybersecurity incident
Image by Markus Spiske Provided by Unpslash
By Cecilia Nasmith
Lakelands Public Health has made public a Jan. 29 cybersecurity incident.
Though Lakelands serves Northumberland County through last year's merger of Peterborough Public Health and the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, the incident affected the Peterborough office IT server only, possible affecting as many as 60,000 current and former Peterborough residents who received services from their health unit from 1996 through January 2026.
The incident saw an unauthorized third party gain access to “a limited portion of our network environment,” by which the so-called threat actor accessed, extracted and encrypted files containing personal information and personal health information. All files have been successfully restored from back-ups.
Cybersecurity experts were immediately engaged to contain the threat, investigate the scope of the incident and strengthen security measures. Five months of continuous monitoring and expert input later, Lakelands has found no evidence that the information involved has been misused for fraudulent purposes or made public online.
Meanwhile, Lakelands warns that anyone who was a client of their Peterborough location between 1996 and January 2026 may be affected. These clients are urged to report suspicious activity to service providers or law enforcement, and to be careful of unsolicited communications requesting personal information.
Information that may have been compromised could include name, date of birth, home address, telephone number, OHIP number and billing codes, medical diagnoses and information, treatment information, dates of service, vaccination information and health-care provider information.
Initial steps after the Jan. 29 discovery involved isolating affected systems, containing the incident, launching an investigation with third-party cybersecurity experts and notifying law enforcement.
Lakelands continues to monitor for any signs that this information has been misused or disclosed online, and will post updates on its website.
For more information, call 249-588-0044 during business hours.
