FILE PHOTO

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The personal information of thousands of current and former Interior Health employees has been found in documents seized by Vernon RCMP.

Vernon RCMP informed Interior Health in January about a document discovered during an investigation with the personal information of 20,000 employees, according to an Interior Health media release.

The document contains names, social insurance numbers, birth dates, addresses and phone numbers for Interior Health employees between 2003 and 2009.

No patient information was found in the discovered documents, Interior Health said.

“Interior Health’s top priority is to ensure that personal information is always protected. We are reaching out to employees who worked for us during these years to ensure that if their information is involved, that they receive support, including credit monitoring, if they are part of this investigation,” Interior Health’s vice president of digital health Brent Kruschel said in the release.

Interior Health said 7,000 employees on the document are still working for Interior Health and it's taking steps to notify them, but the remaining 13,000 former employees are too difficult to track down and notify.

“No arrests or charges have been made in relation to this information,” Vernon RCMP spokesperson Const. Chris Terleski said in the release.

“As part of the continuing investigation, we are releasing this information so potentially impacted individuals can take the necessary steps to safeguard themselves."

Interior Health said in addition to working with RCMP on the investigation it hired external security experts to review the situation. The external experts said the information is not on the dark web, according to Interior Health.

Anyone who worked for Interior Health between 2003 and 2009 is encouraged to call 1-833-705-2569 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays to find out if their information is on the document, and find out steps they can take to protect their information.

Victims of fraud are encouraged to report the crime to local police and report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or at 1-888-495-8501, even if no money was stolen.

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