Inquiry into data breach is needed

Re: Despite spending $749M year in public funds, Transform keeps meetings secret

In recent months, we have learned about a massive privacy breach involving Transform, a shared service organization funded through hospital taxpayer dollars. The magnitude of this privacy breach and its impact on the public has never been seen before in Southwestern Ontario.

The public deserves to know how and why this organization came to control sensitive patient and employee information across five different hospitals for all of Southwestern Ontario.

The public also deserves to know who the key decision makers were who created, supported and structured this organization. Who was appointed to run it, and were there any other considerations involved in its creation or operation?

Were there proper request for proposals, expert analysis and similar successful structures demonstrated in peer organizations?

Was it the recommendation of IT security experts to adopt an “all-eggs-in-onebasket approach” to private information for an entire region and five different hospitals? Was this standard practice for health-care facilities across Canada? What systems and protocols did they have to protect against these attacks?

These are all questions the creators of Transform should have to answer directly to the public.

Personally, I can understand the use of a single shared organization for group purchasing of supplies, but not for securing sensitive and private information for an entire geographic region and more than half a million Ontarians.

Those who use or provide taxpayer dollars to these organizations should ensure all records of these institutions are preserved and made transparent to the public.

It's time for a proper public inquiry. The citizens of this region deserve it.

Dr. Albert Kadri, Windsor