Now, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has come into question by BC’s Auditor General John Doyle. CBC News has released a story, B.C. auditor general sounds computer security alarm, claiming that the British Columbia Government is now “…trying to reassure British Columbians their health information is safe following an auditor general's report that found serious weaknesses in security at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority...”
The main problem concerns the computerized Information System used by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, called PARIS. An article found in the Vancouver Sun, explains Doyle’s findings and the Information System further:
“...The computer program in question is called Primary Access Regional Information System (PARIS), which Doyle said has been used since 2002 to help provide health care services -- including residential care, mental health and addiction services and health promotion -- to more than 620,000 people.
Doyle found users had unmonitored access to all client records, and there were inadequate controls to prevent external attacks...”
Source:http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Health+records+system+full+holes/2549890/story.html
Hopefully, these two major investigations into the regulation of information in the Lower Mainland, will jolt other government agencies and organization in the province into updating and evaluating their current systems and find an organized way of protecting the private information of the citizens of British Columbia.
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