Health Minister John Haggie said in a media conference the “brain” of the Bell-operated data centre was damaged by a “third party.” According to Haggie and David Diamond, CEO of Eastern Health, the province’s largest health authority, the eastern region was hit the hardest, leading to the cancellation of all non-emergency medical appointments and procedures. (The Logic, CBC)

Talking Point: The Newfoundland and Labrador government first became aware of the attack early Saturday and said it was still looking into the nature of the attack as of Monday morning. Sources told CBC News the attack was ransomware, but Haggie said he couldn’t confirm that yet. Large Canadian enterprises and critical-infrastructure providers have been particularly susceptible to ransomware attacks, as my colleague Aleksandra reported. While companies in the country’s energy and utilities sector are among “the most targeted” by cybercriminals, large enterprises cannot tolerate sustained disruptions and are willing to pay up to millions of dollars quickly to restore their operations.