Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
December 9, 2015
Commissioner Releases Second Quarterly Privacy Breach Notification Statistics
During the second quarter (September 1 to November 30, 2015) the OIPC received 61 privacy breach reports from 21 public bodies. This is up from the 44 reports from 16 public bodies received in the first quarter of mandatory breach reporting.
Since the last quarter's statistics were reported, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has provided training to some public bodies on what constitutes a privacy breach in an effort to support and promote compliance with the ATIPPA, 2015 privacy provisions and to ensure that all public bodies understand the requirement to forward all privacy breach reports to this Office.
Privacy breach reports to the Commissioner allow the OIPC to advise public bodies about the breach response process and discuss ways to avoid similar breaches. This information is also used by the Commissioner to decide whether to initiate an investigation or an audit, and also to target specific issues or public bodies for privacy training.
While many reported privacy breaches are relatively minor in nature, trends and patterns in breach reports can reveal more serious systemic issues over time. For that reason, the Commissioner continues to emphasize that all privacy breaches must be reported regardless of how minor they may appear at first.
September 1 to November 30, 2015, by Public Body:
| College of the North Atlantic | 7 |
| Department of Advanced Education and Skills | 13 |
| Department of Child, Youth and Family Services | 7 |
| Department of Environment and Conservation | 1 |
| Department of Justice and Public Safety | 3 |
| Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs | 1 |
| Department of Natural Resources | 1 |
| Department of Transportation and Works | 1 |
| Eastern Health | 1 |
| Forestry and Agrifoods Agency | 1 |
| House of Assembly | 1 |
| Human Resource Secretariat | 3 |
| Human Rights Commission | 1 |
| Memorial University of Newfoundland | 1 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador English School District | 1 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation | 5 |
| Office of the Public Trustee | 1 |
| Service NL | 4 |
| Western Health | 1 |
| Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission | 3 |
| Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Review Division | 4 |
Summary by Breach Type:
| 22 | |
| Fax | 2 |
| In Person | 8 |
| Mail Out | 22 |
| Other | 6 |
| Telephone | 1 |
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Media contact:
| Ed Ring
Information and Privacy Commissioner 709-729-6309 |
2015 12 09 2:25 p.m.