With some B.C. cities such as Richmond having already fallen victim to "cybercrooks" and others wanting to protect themselves from attacks, the Mounties are riding to the rescue.
Cpl. Vinh Ngo told delegates Sept. 18 at the Union of B.C. Municipalities annual general meeting in Vancouver that Richmond has the resources to protect itself yet still got hacked.
He said smaller towns don’t have the luxury to afford protections against increasingly astute bad cyber actors.
Richmond was warning residents of the attack in June 2023. It said personal information in emails might have been compromised following a security breach in the city’s IT system.
After “unusual and concerning activity” was noticed in its IT system, the city started investigating with the help of external cybersecurity experts.
However, a few days later, fraudulent emails were sent out claiming to be from city staff, municipal officials and Gateway Theatre staff.
Ngo said even the RCMP was affected by the attack. He said people had to be warned not to open attachments from city officers.
London Drugs
Then, he said, there was the massive London Drugs attack in May, leading the company to close Western Canadian stores for more than a week.
At the same time, B.C. libraries were also targeted.
“It’s here,” Ng said. “What do we do about it?”
And, he said, “We realized a while back there was need for a team.”
Ngo said part of his work now is to begin working with local communities. He suggested the creation of a working group with police and various levels of government to identify issues.
He also expressed willingness to do webinars with communities wanting more information on protecting their systems and community data.
“We’re all vulnerable,” he said. “If we don’t do anything, something will happen.”
