Personal info from Camp fYrefly ‘shared in error’

A former employee with the University of Alberta’s Camp fYrefly summer camp downloaded and shared personal information about camp participants, volunteers, youth leaders and facilitators between 2014 and 2018.

“We are deeply dismayed about this occurrence, and we recognize that this news will be troubling to many members of our Camp fYrefly community,” university provost Steve Dew said in a news release Thursday.

Dew said the former employee cooperated with the university’s investigation and the information was “shared in error.”

The breach was discovered through an internal investigation by the university’s chief information security officer.

Camp fYrefly is a summer camp and leadership retreat designed for lesbian, gay, trans-identified, two-spirited, intersexed, queer, questioning and allied youth.

Participants who may have had information compromised include adult volunteers between 2015 and 2017, campers and facilitators between 2014 and 2017 and youth leaders between 2015 and 2018.

“Prior to and immediately following the end of the employee’s employment in March 2018, the employee downloaded files, including the personal information of approximately 700 people, on to a personal computing device,” the university said.

The person shared the information on about 200 people with members of a youth advisory group in February.

The advisory group comprises youth who provided assistance in planning the camp.

“While the advisory group had a role to play in planning Camp fYrefly, the personal information of camp participants should not have been shared with this group. We believe that the information was shared in error,” Dew said.

The university believes the privacy breach has been contained and any private information has been returned to the university or destroyed.