Almost 5 months after major cyberattack, Hamilton’s mayor says work is 'far from over'

The City of Hamilton has been working for almost five months to restore and improve its online systems following a significant ransomware attack, but the work is “far from over,” says the city’s mayor.

The City of Hamilton has been working for almost five months to restore and improve its online systems following a significant ransomware attack, but the work is “far from over,” says the city’s mayor.

During a Thursday afternoon news conference, Andrea Horwath said that on Feb. 25 the Southwestrn Ontaio city of 787,000 residents was “attacked by criminals and extensive damage was done.”

“And now, we're trying to recoup and we're trying to rebuild, and we're having some success,” she said.

On Wednesday, a Cybersecurity Incident Impact Update was presented at the city’s General Issues Committee, which provided information on what is being done to address the incident and the $5.7 million cost that has come with that. 

Horwath noted that this amount covers their efforts to recover and restore the city’s online systems as well as retain third-party experts.

“It's a heck of a lot of money, $5.77 million. I get that. Particularly at a time when we're all feeling the pinch, but the expenditures are necessary to help us safeguard our systems and make this even stronger against future threats,” she said.

“As we bring back systems, IT applications, and our services, the city has an opportunity to transform our technology and cybersecurity to better support residents and businesses and better protect us for years to come. And that ain't cheap either, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.”