The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recently advised of a cyber security incident impacting personal data and information on more than 515,000 people worldwide, including missing people, their families, and people in detention. The breach relates to information about the global Restoring Family Links (RFL) services which aims to connect people around the world separated by war, violence, migration, and other causes. More information can be found
here.
We will continue to work closely with the ICRC to better understand the situation as information becomes available. The Canadian Red Cross does participate in the international RFL program, which means that individuals in Canada who have sought family members internationally through this program may have been impacted by this attack. As this situation continues to evolve, attempts will be made to contact any individuals impacted. The Canadian Red Cross will provide updates on any material developments as this situation continues to evolve, including providing any notices required by applicable legislation.
The Canadian Red Cross has security protocols in place and takes privacy matters very seriously.
Domestically, we have been working diligently to understand the potential impacts of this international incident on our operations in Canada. We have undertaken a thorough review and can confirm that the systems used for our work within response operations based in Canada have not been impacted. Canadian Red Cross domestic emergency registration systems are managed separately from the systems used internationally by the ICRC.
Updated information regarding the data breach will be released by the
ICRC, as it becomes available.