A handful of Canadian government departments and agencies have reportedly compromised the personal information of 144,000 individuals across 7,992 breaches experienced over the past two years.
As reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the Canadian government revealed the information in an answer to an order paper question filed by Conservative MP Dean Allison late last month.
The information provided shows there were 7,992 breaches spread across 10 entities.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) saw the most individuals affected, with 3,020 breaches involving 59,065 individuals.
According to CBC, the CRA blames the breaches on misdirected mail, security incidents, and employee misconduct.
"Two-thirds of the total individuals affected were as a result of three unfortunate but isolated incidents," the publication quotes a CRA spokesperson as saying.
Next was Health Canada, which was responsible for 122 breaches, affecting 23,894 individuals.
According to CBC, the agency said in its "most serious" breach, a government employee mistakenly received an email containing personal information. That person immediately notified the appropriate officials at Health Canada and deleted the email, the report said.
See also: How businesses can reduce the financial impact of data breaches (TechRepublic)
CBC itself was responsible for the third-highest number of casualties, with 17 breaches affecting 20,129 individuals that were all employees. CBC in its report pointed to the May 2018 incident that saw the theft of computer equipment containing confidential information as "the most serious".
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) was responsible for seven brea ..
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