Hackers have been trying repeatedly, though unsuccessfully, to break into the City of Castlegar’s computer system.
Information technology manager David Bristow says between April 24 and May 24, there were 3,188 attempts by hackers to log in as staff and get ahold of municipal data. All were repelled.
“I think we’re seeing an increase in hacker attempts for all municipalities,” he says. “It’s because most municipalities are going to the cloud and that slightly increases risk exposure.”
Bristow says there is otherwise no specific reason they are being targeted.
“They’re criminals. If they think they can make money by seizing data, they’ll try it. The City of Castlegar is a public organization that hackers think might be able to pay a ransom.”
Bristow says they have seen this sort of activity for a while, but not at the current rate. Two years ago, they successfully fought off a ransomware attack.
Although their existing systems have so far prevented hackers from doing any damage, Bristow says they are taking further steps to beef up security.
The hackers themselves are from all over the world, including Canada, the US, China, Holland, Spain, Britain, and Japan.
“We think little we’re little Castlegar. Now we have some international exposure,” he quipped.
