Ransomware at Alberta Dental Service Corporation hit 1.47 million people

Alberta Dental Service Corporation, which administers publicly funded dental benefit programmes on behalf of the Alberta government, said on 10 August 2023 that a ransomware attack had compromised the personal information of about 1.47 million people. The organisation runs coverage including the Dental Assistance for Seniors Program and dental benefits attached to the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped programme.

In a notice on its website, ADSC said the period of compromise ran from 7 May to 9 July 2023 and that an unauthorised third party accessed and copied data from its network before deploying malware. Chairman Lyle Best said the organisation became aware of the incident on 10 July and brought in cybersecurity experts for containment, remediation and a forensic investigation.

The exposed information included names, addresses and dental programme identifiers. ADSC said fewer than 7,300 people had personal banking information on file, those who had provided bank details in order to be paid electronically, and Best said that group came from the seniors programme. Information relating to some healthcare providers was also implicated. Global News reported that the Russian-speaking 8base group was responsible, that a ransom was covered by the organisation's cyber insurance, and that data was recovered with minimal loss.

ADSC notified Alberta's privacy commissioner, the provincial government, the RCMP and Edmonton Police Service. It set up a call centre, offered two years of credit monitoring to those whose banking data was exposed and wrote to other affected individuals.