LifeLabs says it paid ransom to secure stolen data

Lab test provider LifeLabs says it paid ransom to secure data, including test results, from 85 000 Ontarians that was stolen in a data breach in late October.

The Toronto-based company provides lab-tests and is Canada’s largest provider of general diagnostic and speciality laboratory testing services.

LifeLabs declined to say how much money was paid but the compromised test results were from 2016 and earlier. LifeLabs says the hackers obtained personal information of an unknown number of its 15 million Canadian customers, based mostly in Ontario and Quebec, including health card numbers, names, email addresses, login, passwords and dates of birth.

LifeLabs believes the risk to customers is low adding that it has not seen any public disclosure of customer data. The company says it has notified the privacy commissioner and taken steps to strengthen its cyber defence.