LifeLabs data breach report released after firm's four-year bid to keep it quiet

'It is important to learn from past mistakes,' said B.C. privacy commissioner. 'But to learn from lessons, we need to share them'

A long-withheld investigation into a 2019 hacking at LifeLabs Inc. that compromised millions of Canadians’ health data has finally been made public after an Ontario court dismissed the company’s appeal to prevent its release.

A statement from the privacy commissioners of both Ontario and British Columbia says their joint report, completed in June 2020, found that LifeLabs “failed to take reasonable steps” to protect clients’ data while collecting more personal health information than was “reasonably necessary.”