Arrest made in PharmaNet breach

Police have arrested a man suspected of gaining unauthorized access to B.C.’s PharmaNet system and using patients’ personal information for fraudulent purposes.

The Crown has yet to lay charges, but the government says about 20,500 patients might have been affected by the privacy breach — nearly three times as many as initially thought.

The Health Ministry announced in February that it was investigating “unusual” activity in the PharmaNet system, which links all B.C. pharmacies and tracks every prescription dispensed in the province.

The ministry said it became aware of the breach last fall and indicated at the time that about 7,500 people had their basic profiles viewed, while about 80 had their recent medication history examined.

The Vancouver police department’s identity theft unit launched an investigation that same month in conjunction with the province.

The government now says the probe has identified an additional 13,000 people who might have had their PharmaNet profile or medication history viewed inappropriately.

Vancouver police confirmed Monday that it searched a Richmond residence March 23 and arrested a man who could face charges related to identity theft.

Health Minister Terry Lake was unavailable for an interview Monday.

His ministry said in a statement that the breaches were the result of “cybercrime” that targeted medical clinics, doctors’ offices and PharmaNet service vendors.

“It is suspected that access was obtained through impersonation of physicians and other methods,” the statement said.

The government said the breaches mostly involved people’s PharmaNet profiles, including name, address, date of birth, personal health number and gender.

“However, in some instances, medication history for the past 14 months was viewed, which includes drug name, dose, date, prescribing physician and dispensing pharmacy.”

The government said it’s sending notification letters to everyone affected by the breaches and offering free credit-monitoring services to protect against fraud and identity theft.

The government said that the ministries of health, finance and technology, and innovation and citizens’ services have tried to contain the problem by disabling inactive accounts and shutting down those accounts affected by the breaches.

Doctors have also been notified and told how to improve security.