CODE GREY - IT INFRASTRUCTURE LOSS (ALL SITES)
**CODE GREY - NSHN - ALL SITES - IT INFRASTRUCTURE LOSS**
UPDATED: MARCH 24/25 @ 4:00 pm
Message from Tim Vine, NSHN President & CEO
“The North Shore Health Network (NSHN) is back online and actively recovering from a cyber incident that began on Wednesday March 19, 2025.
Shortly after 4:30 am on Wednesday March 19, our organization was alerted to a cyber risk. After reviewing the risk with our third-party security firm, out of an abundance of caution, NSHN networks were isolated from the larger Northeast and the eHealth Ontario networks. NSHN also engaged additional resources from our regional partners to conduct a validation of our network and to enact a number of preventative measures at the local and regional level. The validation was complete on the evening of Sunday March 23rd. After a 5-day blackout, by 11:35 pm on Sunday users were once again able to access networks across all sites.
During this blackout period, NSHN’s three sites (Blind River, Thessalon, & Richards Landing – Matthews) were without internet access and there was no access to the regional medical record. The outage also impacted the Huron Shores Family Health Team at all their locations. Emergency Departments remained open to the public, however, communication was shared that patients could experience longer wait times depending on their needs. The organization did experience a reduction in some services, notably, outpatient Laboratory, Medical Imaging and Nurse Practitioner appointments were postponed.
Internally, downtime procedures were activated as our teams navigated paper charting and the challenge of limited Medical Imaging and Laboratory services.
As investigations continued, it was identified that there was no loss of data or compromise of health information or private information.
Our teams will be contacting patients to reschedule any postponed outpatient appointments as soon as possible.
On behalf of NSHN, I wish to extend sincere gratitude to our patients, clients, residents, families and caregivers for your patience and treating our workers with kindness during this incident; to our regional partners who supported our technical team to bring our systems back online as quickly as possible; and to our staff, providers and volunteers for working through the adversities of the past 5 days as a team to ensure the continued provision of effective compassionate healthcare for our communities.”
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UPDATE : MARCH 21/25 @ 1:30 PM
NSHN is currently experiencing a Code Grey – IT Infrastructure Loss due to a cyber incident.
At this stage there is no loss of data or corruption of our files, however, out of an abundance of caution we have isolated our networks from the larger Northeast network and have been isolated from eHealth Ontario’s network.
Our IT Teams continue to work collaboratively with the region and a third-party security firm to bring our systems back online as soon as possible.
The date and time of full restoration remains unknown at this time.
Note: Outpatient Laboratory & Medical Imaging appointments for Monday are being rescheduled. NSHN also remains unable to process credit/debit transactions – only cash or cheque is accepted at this time.
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UPDATE MARCH 20/25 @ 12:00 PM
NSHN continues to be in Code Grey - IT Infrastructure Loss at all sites. As a result, non-urgent Outpatient Laboratory and Medical Imaging appointments for Friday March 21st will be rescheduled. Staff will be contacting you today to discuss rescheduling. Nurse Practitioner appointments for today at the Blind River Site have also been rescheduled.
We continue to experience increased wait times in our Emergency Departments as we prioritize the needs of patients.
Health811 is available 24/7 providing access to safe, high-quality care. This service is an easy way to get connected to care you or your loved ones need, but it does not replace a touch point with your health care provider. In a medical emergency call 911 immediately.
For more information visit: https://health811.ontario.ca/static/guest/home
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ORIGINAL:
NSHN is currently experiencing a Code Grey - Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure Loss affecting all sites - Blind River, Thessalon & Richards Landing - Matthews.
Our Emergency Departments remain OPEN, but patients can expect longer wait times as our teams switch to downtime procedures. We thank you for your patience as our teams prioritize the needs of each patient. Patients with non-urgent conditions will have a longer wait.
Outpatient Laboratory and Diagnostic Imaging appointments for Thursday March 20th will be rescheduled. If you have not already received one, you can expect a call from our team members to re-schedule your appointment.
Please be kind to our staff as we manage this outage. More information will be provided as it becomes available.