Three key issues from the Ontario cyber security Expert Panel report

On October 3rd, the Ontario’s cyber security Expert Panel issued its report to Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery, Kaleed Rasheed.

His Honour said, “The Expert Panel’s recommendations will form the foundation of our cyber security policies and help develop best practices shared across all sectors as well as inform future targeted investments in our cyber capabilities and defences.”

Those recommendations are:

Regarding governance: Ontario should reinforce existing governance structures to enable effective cyber security risk management across the BPS.
Regarding education and training: Ontario should continue to develop diverse and inclusive cyber security awareness and training initiatives across all age-levels of learning, supported by a variety of common and tailored content and hands-on activities.
Regarding communication: Ontario should implement a framework that encourages BPS entities to share information related to cyber security securely amongst each other with ease.
Regarding shared services: Ontario should continue to develop, improve, and expand shared services and contracts for cyber resiliency across the BPS, considering sector-specific needs where required.

Here are three issues of significance to public sector instutions and their insurers.

FIRST, the governance recommendation contemplates more government oversight, including through “a single oversight body, employing a common operating model [and] clearly establishing accountabilities.”

Institutions require more funding to address cyber security risks. This recommendation is positive because it will lay the necessary groundwork.

As suggested by the Expert Panel, the current relationship between government and institutions is somewhat confused. Government is engaged an informal kind of oversight that lacks effectiveness and can rightly put institutions on guard because its measures are unclear. Institutions will benefit from clear and simple accountabilities and – did I say it already? – the funding to meet those accountabilities.

SECOND, the communication recommendation encompasses threat information sharing, with the Expert Panel stating, “Ontario should establish a unified critical information sharing protocol to ensure quick communication of cyber incidents, threat intelligence, and vulnerabilities amongst BPS organizations.”

This is to rectify what the Expert Panel says is the “unidirectional” flow of threat information, which is reported to government but is not yet “broadly shared across the BPS.” Institutions know that government currently craves the early reporting of threat information, but the perceived benefit is still minimal. The Expert Panel recommendation is positive in that it may lead to their receipt of more timely, more enriched threat information.

THIRD, the shared services recommendation addresses the cyber insurance coverage problem now faced by the public sector. The expert panel states:

Ontario should investigate options for establishing a self-funded cyber insurance program to support the delivery of services such as breach coaching, incident response, and recovery to which all BPS organizations can subscribe.

There is a form of self-funded cyber coverage available various parts of the Ontario public sector through insurance reciprocals. This coverage is expanding, and the role of reciprocals is becoming more important now that the insurance market has become so hard. Primary coverage by reciprocals, even if limited in scope, can make secondary coverage more obtainable for public sector institutions.

The “breach coaching” reference above gives me pause, though I understand it to be indicative of how the role of expert legal counsel in incident response was borne out of the cyber insurance market (with the term coined by cyber risk and insurance company NetDiligence, I believe).

Breach coaching is simply expert legal advice by another name. It is funded by cyber insurance for those who have coverage, and insurers have required their insureds to use vetted and approved legal advisors in responding to incidents because they understand the risk mitigating (and cost reducing) value of this specialized legal service. Public sector institutions without coverage bear all the same risks as those with coverage, and without proper advice are at great peril. The need for proper legal advice one reason is why it is so important to solve the public sector coverage problem, though institutions dealing with a major cyber incident should not consider legal advice to be optional.

IPC/Ontario issues basic cyber hygiene decision

On July 5th, the IPC/Ontario held that an Ontario medical clinic breached its PHIPA safeguarding duties by:

Allowing staff to use personal e-mail accounts to send patient information provided staff referred to patients only by by initials, medical reference numbers or accession numbers
Allowing the posting of login credentials (on sticky notes or the equivalent) to enable shared access to two computers
Failing to abide by the IPCs model for agent information and instruction, which requires annual privacy training and the re-signing of confidentiality agreements on an annual basis

The clinic self-corrected upon receiving the complaint, but not without defending its posting of login credentials by explaining that the two computers were physically secure and did not contain patient information. It shouldn’t have bothered. Its information and instruction failure aside, the clinic committed plain and basic network security wrongs. The IPC’s decision is notable for calling them out.

A Medical Clinic (Re), 2022 CanLII 61410 (ON IPC).

A call to modernize public sector privacy statutes without inviting litigation

The wave of public sector reform is coming, so it’s time to start thinking and talking about they best way achieve strong privacy protection in the Ontario public sector. I had the honour of participating the University of Toronto’s Privacy Day celebration yesterday, including by sitting on a panel and giving the short prepared remark below. I’m all for privacy protection and modernization, but the implementation of administrative monetary penalties in the Ontario public sector (like now in Quebec) would fundamentally change the relationship between the Ontario public sector and its regulator and not serve the public or education sectors well.

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Cyber security for the regulator and regulated

On Monday I addressed an audience a the Ontario Regulatory Authorities continuing professional development conference on the topic of cybersecurity. It was a good chance to record an updated and concise view of the Canadian threat environment along with the cyber defence and incident response issues facing Canadian organizations. Here are the slides for your reading pleasure.

Cybersecurity governance and the empowerment of corporate leadership

I had the honour of presenting on cybersecurity oversight today at the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada annual Governance Summit. The theme ended up being about leadership and empowerment. I’d like board members to believe that the information security knowledge they require to meet their duties is well within their grasp and to feel a little excited about the learning process. Slides below FYI.

Manitoba Ombudsman blesses response to e-mail incident

Manitoba Ombudsman Jill Perron has issued her report into Manitoba Families’ 2020 e-mail incident. The incident involved the inadvertent e-mailing of personal health information belonging to 8,900 children in receipt of disability services to approximately 100 external agencies and community advocates. It is such a common incident that it is worth outlining the Ombudsman’s incident response findings.

Manitoba Families meant to transfer the information to the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth to support a program review. It included information about services received. Some records included diagnoses.

Manitoba Families mistakenly blind copied the external agencies and advocates on an e-mail that included the information in an encrypted file and a follow-up e-mail that included the password to the file. It had made the same mistake about a week earlier. Several agencies alerted Manitoba Families to its error, and it began containment within a half hour.

The Ombudsman held that Manitoba Families’ containment effort was reasonable. She described it as follows.

Attempts at recalling the email began minutes later at 8:29 a.m. and continued at various intervals. Also, at 8:35 a.m., CDS sent an email to all unintended recipients noting in bold that they were incorrectly included on a confidential email from Children’s disAbility Services and requested immediate deletion of the email and any attachments. Follow up calls to the unintended recipients by CDS program staff began to occur that morning to request deletion of the emails and a list was created to track these calls and the outcomes. A communication outline was created for these calls which included a request to delete emails, a further request that emails be deleted from the deleted folder and that any emails that went to a junk email folder also be deleted…

In January 2021, we received additional written communication from the program stating that all agency service providers and advocates were contacted and verified deletion of the personal health information received in error. The log form created to track and monitor the name of the organization, the date and details of the contact was provided to our office.

The Ombudsman reached a similar finding regarding Manitoba Families’ notification effort, though she needed to recommend that Manitoba Families identify the agencies and advocates to affected individuals, which Manitoba Families agreed to do upon request.

What’s most significant – especially given class action proceedings have been commenced – is a point the Ombudsman made about evidence that Manitoba Families appears not to have gathered.

In addition to assuring families about the deletion of the email, additional information such as who viewed the email, if the attachment was opened and read, whether it was forwarded to anyone else or printed, whether it was stored in any other network drive or paper file or, conversely, that no records exist – can be helpful information to provide those affected by a privacy breach. It is best practice, therefore, to provide families with as much assurance as possible about the security of their child’s health information.

The question is, what is one to make of an arguable shortcoming in an incident response investigation? I say “arguable” because the probability of any of these actions occurring is very low in the unique circumstances of this incident, which involved trusted individuals receiving a password-protected and encrypted file. Manitoba Families ought to have collected this evidence because they called the e-mail recipients anyway, it is helpful and was probably available for collection. If it did not do so, however, I believe it is perfectly acceptable to for Manitoba Families to stand by the scope of a narrower investigation and and put the plaintiff to proof.

PHIA Case 2020-1304

Ontario BPS cyber expert panel raises alarm

Last autumn, the Ontario government struck an expert panel of cyber advisors. Among other things, it gave the panel a mandate to “assess and identify common and sector-specific cyber security themes and challenges encountered by Broader Public Sector (BPS) agencies and service delivery partners in Ontario.”

The panel got quickly to work, and in late 2020 gathered feedback from panel members and BPS stakeholders to produce an interim report under the name of its Chair, Robert Wong. The interim report is as unsurprising as it is alarming, speaking to wide-ranging maturity levels derived from under-resourcing as well as failures of governance. It includes characterizations of well-understood governance challenges in the university, school board and health care sectors. On universities, for example, the Chair reports:

Even in institutions with relatively strong and mature corporate governance practices, there are still significant challenges to effectively manage cyber security risks that result from competing priorities and inconsistent application of oversight and policies. For example, funding in higher education comes from various sources and is allocated based on various criteria. Some university research groups that have successfully secured grants or private sponsorship dollars often have a sense of entitlement and feel that because it is their money, they get to call the shots and ignore cyber security concerns when they procure technology tools. Why don’t universities impose the same cyber security requirements on their researchers as they do on other faculty and staff?

Notably, the Chair says, “A regional-based shared-services model may be the only viable option for the smaller players to be able to afford and gain access to the limited availability of technical expertise in the marketplace.”

He also makes the following two interim recommendations, one to government and another to BPS entities themselves:

1. That the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework be endorsed by the Government of Ontario for the Broader Public Sector’s cyber security practices. If an entity has already adopted a cyber security framework other than that of NIST, the expectation is that they map the framework they are using to the NIST framework to ensure alignment and consistency. Understanding that BPS entities vary in size and risk-profile, it is reasonable to expect that the breadth and depth to which the NIST Cybersecurity Framework is implemented will also vary accordingly, following a risk-based approach. To assist small- and medium-sized organizations in adopting and implementing the NIST framework, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s “Baseline Cyber Security Controls for Small and Medium Organizations” is a useful guide that provides the fundamental requirements for an effective cyber security practice that aligns with the NIST framework.
2. That all BPS entities implement a Cyber Security Education and Awareness Training Program. The content of the training materials shall be maintained to ensure currency of information. New employees shall receive the training immediately after joining the company as part of their orientation program, and all existing employees shall receive refresher training on an annual basis, at a minimum. Information Technology and cyber security specialists shall receive regular cyber security technical training to ensure their skills are kept current. Specialized educational materials may be developed that would be appropriate for boards of directors, senior executives and any other key decision-makers. Effective management of cyber security risks requires the efforts and commitment of everyone and cannot simply be delegated to the cyber security professionals. A strong “tone-at-the-top” is a critical success factor to strengthen the cyber security resilience of BPS service delivery partners.

The panel is not a standard setting entity, but the second recommendation does establish something to which BPS entities now ought to strive. Of course, this raises the question of resourcing. Minister Lisa Thompson’s response to the interim report suggests that the government’s assistance will be indirect, via the Cyber Security Centre of Excellence’s learning portal.

Cyber Risks and M&A Transactions

We have just posted all the content for our BLG series “Privacy & Cyber Risks, Trends & Opportunities for Business.” See here for some very good content by our privacy and data security team.

Here is a direct link to our most recent webinar, which I delivered together with my partner Patrice Martin. It was very rewarding to work with and learn from Patrice, a very well established technology industry and transactions lawyer.

Enjoy. Learn. Get in touch.

When it happens, will you be ready? How to excel in handling your next cyber incident

I like speaking about incident response because there are so many important practical points to convey. Every so often I re-consolidate my thinking on the topic and do up a new slide deck. Here is one such deck from this week’s presentation at Canadian Society of Association Executives Winter Summit. It includes an adjusted four step description of the response process that I’m content with.

We’ve been having some team discussions over here about how incident response plans can be horribly over-built and unusable. I made the point in presenting this that one could take the four step model asset out in this deck, add add a modest amount of “meat” to the process (starting with assigning responsibilities) and append some points on how specific scenarios might be handled based on simple discussion if not a bona fide tabletop exercise.

Preparing for a cyber incident isn’t and shouldn’t be hard, and simple guidance is often most useful for dealing with complex problems.

Alberta OIPC finds Blackbaud incident gives rise to RROSH

Hat tip to my good colleague Francois Joli-Coeur, who let our group know yesterday that the OIPC Alberta has issued a number of breach notification decisions about the Blackbaud incident, finding in each one that it gave rise to a “real risk of significant harm” that warrants notification and reporting under Alberta PIPA.

Blackbaud is a cloud service provider to organizations engaged in fundraising who suffered a ransomware incident last spring in which hackers exfiltrated the personal information of donors and educational institution alumni. The true scope of the incident is unknown, but likely large, affecting millions of individuals across the globe.

Blackbaud issued notably strong communications that de-emphasized the risk of harm. It rested primarily on the payment of a ransom, assurances by the threat actors that they would delete all data in exchange for payment and its ongoing dark web searches. Most affected institutions (Blackbaud clients) notified anyway.

On my count the OIPC issued seven breach notification decisions about the incident late last year, each time finding a “real risk.” In a decision involving an American college with donors or alumni in Alberta, the OIPC said:

In my view, a reasonable person would consider the likelihood of significant harm resulting from this incident is increased because the personal information was compromised due to a deliberate unauthorized intrusion by a cybercriminal. The Organization reported that the cybercriminal both accessed and stole the personal information at issue. The Organization can only assume that cybercriminal did not or will not misuse, disseminate or otherwise make available publicly the personal information at issue.

This is not surprising, but tells us how the OIPC feels about the assurance gained from paying a ransom to recover stolen data.

See e.g. P2020-ND-201 (File #017205).