IT upgrades to come sooner in Bonnyville after City’s cyber attack

The Town of Bonnyville is fast-tracking IT upgrades, after the cyber attack in Cold Lake weeks ago.

Plans to upgrade the servers and IT infrastructure of the Town have been slated for years, and were originally planned for 2025. The Town called a special council meeting on July 29 to approve $250,000 to be allocated from the Administration Capital Reserve and the General Capital Reserve to complete the IT Infrastructure Upgrade Project in 2024.

“When things happen that close to home, you start taking a look at what you’re doing,” said Mayor Elisa Brosseau on The Morning After. 

“This has been a topic of conversation in many circles for quite a few years to protect ourselves against cyber security. It was something that the Town was planning for, but not until 2025. In light of the crisis with the City of Cold Lake, we said, maybe we should be talking about this now and not wait.” 

A report submitted for council consideration outlined the objectives and goals of staff.

The move is hoped to put the Town in a better position against a cyber attack, including better protection of all the stored data from ransomware and malware attacks, and full disaster recovery with the ability to be up and running in less than a day.

It would involve the replacement of aging hardware due to end of service life, as well.

“This proposal will provide the Town of Bonnyville with 10 good years of solid I.T infrastructure. It’s about $20,000/year of spending on I.T but having all the benefits and protection at once,” the report states.