2026
CRKN Virtual Conference: Creative Collaborations, Collective Momentum
Virtual
May 12 - 14, 2026
Recovery and Rebuild - Life after a Cyberattack
Thursday May 14, 2026
From 3:00pm to 3:30pm
On February 25, 2024, the City of Hamilton was the target of a deliberate and aggressive cybersecurity attack. A well-organized group of cybercriminals broke into City systems, caused significant disruption to City services and operations, and demanded a ransom of $18.5 million CAD. In line with advice from cybersecurity experts and law enforcement, the City did not pay the ransom. Twenty-one City services were impacted, some were impacted more greatly than others. The City’s Museum database system and all the digital files created or saved by the museums since computerization disappeared for good.
This presentation will outline the cyber incident, discuss its impact, and detail the response to an attack of this scale within a municipal structure. The presentation will center on the collaborative and collective rebuild efforts that are underway to support a new and improved collections management eco-system and how it will be future proofed. As we move into an increasingly digital world, the lessons learned from this incident are sure to be invaluable to others that are looking to safeguard their digital holdings over the long term.
Attendees will gain practical strategies for implementing a collection management system within a municipal system with a mixed historic collection. Presenters will share their approaches to mitigating risk through governance and backup planning and insights into how innovation can emerge from crisis situations.
