Roadmap will guide recovery, restoration and rebuilding phases

Hamilton, ON – Following today’s Council Meeting, Mayor Andrea Horwath and City Manager Marnie Cluckie provided an update regarding the City’s ongoing cybersecurity incident and the next steps on the City’s roadmap to recovery and rebuilding.

As efforts progress, the City continues to strengthen the expert team with leading cybersecurity experts. In addition to technical advisor CYPFER, Deloitte has been retained to work together with the team of experts to support the recovery, restoration, and rebuilding phases.

“I want to thank residents of Hamiltonians for their patience and understanding as we make good progress on our recovery, restoration and rebuilding efforts,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath. “I want to assure our community that we are fully committed to addressing the cyber incident and safeguarding the well-being of our residents. Restoring our systems and services is akin to putting the puzzle pieces back together, and we are working diligently to ensure every piece is in place for the benefit of our community.”

It is important for Hamilton residents to know that the City has:

• Contained the incident,
• Involved a team of experts in investigation, response, restoration, and rebuilding efforts,
• Determined through forensic analysis that, at this time, there is no evidence that people’s personal data or information has been compromised,
• Confirmed we are not paying a ransom, and
• Continued to deliver critical services to Hamiltonians.

While core services like waste collection, transit, water and wastewater treatment and emergency services continue to be operational, we appreciate there have been some impacts on residents in the way they engage with City services. We are working diligently to resume services safely and securely.

The City is pleased to highlight a number of newly restored services, including:

• Registration for Recreation’s spring programming will start on March 27 and 28 at 8 am for Recreation Centres and 10 am for Older Adult 55+ Seniors Centres.
• Starting today (March 20), Recreation membership sales and renewals will resume. Admission fees for Recreation drop-in programs (such as drop-in pool, skating, basketball, etc.) will also resume.
• Electronic payments for Recreation can be processed in person at the Lister Block 3rd Floor Customer Service Counter (28 James Street North).
• As of this week, both new dog licences and renewals of existing ones can be processed in person at all Municipal Service Centres, as well as at the City of Hamilton Animal Services located at 247 Dartnall Road. Please note that purchasing new licences or renewing existing ones online or over the phone is not currently available.
• All late fees for dog licence renewals are currently being waived and will continue to be waived until 30 days after the City’s online renewal portal is restored.
• Building inspections are continuing and can be booked via email at [email protected]. Staff continue to accept new building permit applications, advance existing building permit applications, and issue building permits. For questions or to submit an application, please email [email protected] or connect with staff in person at City Hall, 3rd Floor Customer Front Counter (71 Main Street West).

“The restoration and rebuilding efforts are ongoing, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates,” said Marnie Cluckie, City Manager. “Our focus remains on safely and securely restoring services for Hamiltonians and fortifying our systems against future threats. We are committed to emerging stronger from this cyber incident.”

A complete list of services resuming, additional information about the cybersecurity incident and answers to frequently asked questions is available online at hamilton.ca/cyberincident. Residents can also call the City’s Customer Contact Centre at 905-546-2489 (CITY).