Hamilton, Ont. facing nearly $20 million bill over 2024 cyberattack

The City of Hamilton, Ont. is on the hook for $18.3 million after a cyberattack last year.

In a July 30 news release, the city provided an update on the incident. It explained that on February 25, 2024, cybercriminals launched a “complex ransomware attack through an external internet-facing server” in which encrypted systems and data were used to circumvent the city’s systems. The hackers demanded an $18.5 million ransom to unscramble this breached data, which the city refused to pay.

In October, the city estimated that the hack resulted in $9.6 million in losses. Now, however, it’s reporting that total costs have ballooned to $18.3 million, and it has to foot the bill because its insurer denied the claim due to the city not having multi-factor authentication fully enabled at the time of the breach. The city says more than $14 million of the bill has been paid to external experts, with additional millions going towards costs like infrastructure and staffing.

The city notes that the majority of affected services have been successfully recovered or rebuilt, although “recovery efforts remain ongoing” and “future financial impacts are anticipated” accordingly.

“I understand why Hamiltonians are frustrated – this was a serious and costly breach,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath in the news release. “We expect our public systems to be strong, secure, and dependable. This incident highlights that the city fell short of that standard – and we’re not okay with that.”

She added that this is a “clear and indisputable reminder that timely investments in public infrastructure” are necessary to “help prevent far more costly reactive responses down the line.” She concluded by promising that the city is “rebuilding with resilience and future-proofing in mind, while strengthening our systems, improving protections, and ensuring better service and safeguards for our entire community.”

Source: City of Hamilton Via: Global News