Anand: Federal experts 'in constant contact' to address cyber incident at health insurance provider for public servants

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The federal government says cyber security and privacy experts are “in constant contact” with public benefits providers to address a recent “cyber incident” impacting MSH International (MSH), and to protect the personal information of government employees.

MSH, a federal sub-contractor, assists Canada Life in connecting members of the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) who are travelling or posted outside of Canada with coverage, according to releases this week from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Canada Life announced that the PSHCP’s membership portal had been made unavailable as a result of the incident, with MSH unable to process or access the status of claims under the plan. According to a statement Wednesday from Treasury Board President Anita Anand, Canada Life has assured that it is “looking at options to support affected members” during the outage.

“We have asked Canada Life to work diligently with MSH to investigate what information may have been affected and to restore all services in a safe and prompt manner,” Anand said.

“This situation is a stark reminder of the ongoing risks faced by public and private organizations across Canada and abroad… we will continue to work hard to prevent, detect and manage these threats.”