August 10, 2020
October 2020

CNO restores services and continues to respond to cyber security incident

All of us at the College of Nurses of Ontario would like to thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding as we continue to respond to the cyber security incident we experienced on September 8. We are pleased to report that most of our systems are now restored, and we have made significant progress in resuming normal operations.

We are working hard to catch up on the emails, applications, calls and requests we received in the days preceding and during the service outage. Dedicated teams are working to process outstanding applications and requests and respond to your calls and emails as quickly as possible. We sincerely appreciate your patience as we work hard to catch up...

All of us at the College of Nurses of Ontario would like to thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding as we continue to respond to the cyber security incident we experienced on September 8. We are pleased to report that most of our systems are now restored, and we have made significant progress in resuming normal operations.

We are working hard to catch up on the emails, applications, calls and requests we received in the days preceding and during the service outage. Dedicated teams are working to process outstanding applications and requests and respond to your calls and emails as quickly as possible. We sincerely appreciate your patience as we work hard to catch up. 

On September 25, we shared an email with members outlining information about some of the types of data we retain about members. Although we had no evidence that member information had been affected, we wanted to make you aware of the possibility so you could remain vigilant. During our continuing investigation, if we identify any additional risks that require notice to individuals, you can rest assured that we will notify those affected directly.

We would like to remind you that payments you made to CNO and the financial information you may have provided are processed through a third-party vendor, not CNO. For this reason, CNO has not identified a risk to members of financial, credit or identity fraud associated with that type of information. 

Protecting the information in our care is important to us. Under the guidance of cyber security experts, we have taken additional steps to further protect our infrastructure. Unfortunately, no organization can be entirely immune; incidents of this nature are often perpetrated by highly skilled individuals or organizations who find novel and innovative ways to penetrate even the most sophisticated security safeguards.  

We recognize that the disruption was frustrating, particularly during a time when many of you are caring for Ontarians during the pandemic. We sincerely regret any concern this incident may have caused and we want to assure you that we are working tirelessly to address all outstanding requests and concerns. 

We want to thank everyone who reached out with words of encouragement and support, and we thank each of you for your ongoing patience.

Sincerely,

 
Anne Coghlan
Executive Director and CEO 
The College of Nurses of Ontario

About CNO

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) is the regulator of the nursing profession in Ontario. It is not a school or a nursing association. CNO acts in the public interest by:

  • assessing qualifications and registering individuals who want to practice nursing in Ontario.
  • setting the practice standards of the profession that nurses in Ontario are expected to meet.
  • promoting nurses' continuing competence through a quality assurance program.
  • holding nurses accountable to those standards by addressing complaints or reports about nursing care.

The College was founded in 1963. By establishing the College, the Ontario government was acknowledging that the nursing profession had the ability to govern itself and put the public's well-being ahead of professional interests.

For the latest information, please see our Nursing Statistics page.

Anyone who wants to use a nursing-related title — Registered Nurse (RN), Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) must become a member of CNO.

Frequently Asked Questions

Go to the public Register, Find a Nurse, to conduct a search for the nurse. Contact us if you can't find the person you are looking for.

All public information available about nurses is posted in the public Register, Find a Nurse, which contains profiles of every nurse in Ontario. Publicly available information about nurses include their registration history, business address, and information related to pending disciplinary hearings or past findings.

Unregistered practitioners are people who are seeking employment in nursing or holding themselves out as being able to practice nursing in Ontario, but who are not qualified to do so. They are not registered members of CNO. Only people registered with CNO can use nursing-related titles or perform certain procedures that could cause harm if carried out by a non-registered health professional. CNO takes the issue of unregistered practitioners seriously. See Unregistered Practitioners for more information.

To ensure procedural fairness for both the patient (or client) and the nurse, the Regulated Health Professions Act requires that information gathered during an investigation remain confidential until the matter is referred to the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee. CNO will not disclose any information that could identify patients (or clients) or compromise an investigation. See Investigations: A Process Guide for more information.

Information obtained during an investigation will become public if the matter is referred to a disciplinary hearing. If a complaint is not referred to a hearing, no information will be available publicly.

See CNO's hearings schedule, which is updated as hearing dates are confirmed. Hearings at CNO are open to the public and the media. For details on how to attend a hearing, contact the Hearings Administration Team.

A summary of allegations and the disciplinary panel outcomes can be found on the public Register, Find a Nurse. Full decisions and reasons are also available.

Where a disciplinary panel makes a finding of professional misconduct, they have the authority to reprimand a nurse, and suspend or revoke a nurse's registration. Terms, conditions and limitations can also be imposed on a nurse's registration, which restricts their practice for a set period. Nurses can also be required to complete remedial activities, such as reviewing CNO documents and meeting with an expert, before returning to practice.

For detailed information see the Sexual Abuse Prevention section.

Related links