November 23rd, 2021

NDP response to reported security breach of vaccine booking portal

QUEEN'S PARK — Chris Glover, Ontario NDP critic for Technology Development and Innovation, released the following statement after reports of a possible security breach associated with the province's COVID-19 vaccine booking portal:

“It’s incredibly troubling to learn that Ontario’s vaccine booking system was compromised, people’s personal and health information has allegedly been violated, and arrests of government staff have been made.

Premier Doug Ford must immediately tell people what actions he’s taking to determine how many people’s personal health and contact information has been compromised, what is now being done to inform and protect those people, and how the system is being changed to prevent further breaches.

People whose data has been compromised have a right to be informed and they need instructions on what to do. This alleged failure is serious, and someone at the senior levels needs to be held accountable.

Ford also needs to come clean about what his government knew about this alleged breach of personal data and when they knew it. On Friday Nov. 19, the Ministry of Health said it had found no connection between the Ontario vaccination portal and fraudulent banking texts. Today, the OPP says that a full two days earlier, on Wednesday Nov. 17, they were asked to investigate the alleged connection.

Ontarians deserve to have full confidence in the provincial vaccine booking system. We look forward to learning more from the OPP investigation so Ontarians can understand the full extent of this alleged data breach. We expect any potential security weaknesses to be identified and fixed without further delay.”