Cybersecurity litigation in Canada is on the rise. Given that
the number of data breaches in Canada has been rising exponentially
in recent years, the increase in cybersecurity litigation is
unsurprising. However, the increase in the volume of breaches,
coupled with privacy legislation changes, has resulted in more
reporting to the privacy commissioners, attempted class
proceedings, and settlements of actions.
PRIVACY COMMISSIONER INVESTIGATIONS AND CIVIL LITIGATION
An organization that has experienced a privacy breach or
cybersecurity incident may be subject to mandatory reporting and
resulting investigations by the federal or provincial privacy
commissioner. Procedural protection for the organization in the
course of such an investigation is often limited. Further, in some
cases, there is no (or only very limited) legal recourse to
challenge unfair or erroneous findings made in a privacy
commissioner report.
