A 19-year-old Halifax man has been charged in relation to a breach on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy website.
Halifax Regional Police say the man faces the seldom used charge of unauthorized use of a computer.
He’s been released and set to appear in court at a later date.
The province became aware of the breach after a problem with the FOIPOP website was discovered April 5.
Shortly after, the website was shut down and a complaint was filed with police.
The breach took place between March 3 and 5 this year.
Around 7,000 documents were inappropriately accessed.
Two hundred fifty of which contained highly sensitive, personal information such as birthdates, social insurance numbers and addresses.
Officials say applicants’ credit card information was not accessed.
The provincial privacy commissioner is also investigating.
“We deeply regret that individuals’ information has been compromised,” said Internal Services Minister Patricia Arab in a news release. “We welcome the commissioner’s full investigation of this incident.”
Meanwhile, opposition MLAs have criticized the province for not releasing information on the breach sooner.
The province says Internal Services and its cybersecurity team are working closely with the third-party service providers – Unisys and CSDC Systems, to secure the site and get it running again.
Until that happens, anyone wishing to make a FOIPOP application or view public applications are asked to contact the FOIPOP office at 1-844-424-2985.
