CUPE promises probe into ransomware hack at local Catholic Board

CUPE Local 4148 says its executive committee is taking seriously the ransomware hack of Huron Superior Catholic District School Board information and is promising its own investigation into the matter.

"The theft of our personal and financial information from our employer’s files was disproportionately hard on 10-month employees – EAs, ECEs, and most secretaries, who are laid off every Christmas, and casual employees who work on a call-in basis because this ransomware hack caused delays in the submission of our records of employment for employment insurance and board payroll problems," local President Crystal Krauter-Maki said in a statement.

"We remain concerned about the impact of our identifying info and financial details – full legal names, home addresses, dates of birth, social insurance numbers, bank account numbers, etc. – being stolen from the school board in December."

Members of CUPE Local 4148 are caretakers, maintenance workers, carpenters, educational assistants (EAs), early childhood educators (ECEs), and clerical staff employed by the Huron Superior Catholic District School Board (HSCDSB), the statement added.

"There are very few, if any, other organizations to which workers supply so much personal information as they provide to their employers," Krauter-Maki said.