Newfoundland and Labrador’s health minister says the province’s health system has suffered a suspected cyberattack, but did not confirm media speculation that ransomware was used in the attack, which caused serious disruptions. Disruptions to the health-care IT system started on the morning of Oct. 30, causing “progressive failure” to what Health Minister John Haggie said was the “brain” of the data centre, impacting thousands of appointments and procedures, including those involving COVID-19 testing. “We may have been victims of a possible cyberattack by a third party,” Haggie said in a press conference on Nov. 2, adding that the province’s Emergency Operations Centre has been activated to respond to the crisis. He said that while all four of N.L.’s regional health authorities were affected by the infiltration, the province’s largest health authority, Eastern Health, suffered the greatest impact. Eastern Health CEO David Diamond said thousands of medical appointments have been cancelled as …