The Southern First Nations Network of Care says it was victim of a cyberattack in the early hours of Nov. 21 which has potential impacts on eight Child and Family Services agencies in Manitoba.

Spokesperson Jim Compton said the organization is working to determine the scope and origin of the attack and what personal information could have been accessed.

“There is all kinds of information on there that could be compromised,” he said. “At this point, we really don’t know what. But what we do know is that the system is not working, and we have to come up with a contingency plan.”

The network oversees 10 CFS agencies, which care for children from more than 30 First Nations in southern Manitoba.

Compton said the system held information on children in care and their families, including case files and payment information for foster families.

Compton said eight of those agencies were affected:

• Animikii Ozoson Child & Family Services.
• Anishinaabe Child and Family Services.
• Dakota Ojibway Child and Family Services.
• Intertribal Child and Family Services.
• Peguis Child and Family Services.
• Sagkeeng Child and Family Services
• Southeast Child and Family Services.
• West Region Child and Family Services.

Two others — Child and Family All Nations Co-ordinated Response Network and Sandy Bay Child and Family Services — were not affected because they use a different system, he said.

“We thought we had a good system in place. That’s why we had eight of our agencies on there,” he said. “We thought we had the system protected, and it was breached.”

A spokesperson for Manitoba’s Advocate for Children and Youth said the advocate’s office was informed of the breach early Saturday by the provincial department of families and the Southern Authority.

“This is a very serious matter and we are extremely concerned,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Our office is monitoring the situation, particularly how the confidential information of children and families is being protected, as well as the ability of the CFS system to provide ongoing service to Manitoba families.”

Compton said the Southern Authority has contacted the RCMP about the attack, and has also hired an independent company to determine what happened. RCMP confirmed its Integrated Technological Crime Unit (ITCU) is investigating.

He said it is holding a press conference at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) Sunday to release further details on what he called “a sophisticated attack” that infected their system with ransomware, rendering it unusable. Because the system is down, Compton said, they will have to access information for about 4,000 children manually.

Compton said it is not known yet how many people are affected, but said personal information of children, families and foster families could be compromised.

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