Municipalities and government agencies manage essential public services — and attackers know that downtime means pressure to pay. We help public sector organizations build resilient, auditable security that keeps services running.
Threat Intelligence
Of North American municipal governments have experienced a cyber attack — and incidents affecting essential services are increasing year over year
— Deloitte Municipal Cyber Survey 2023
The Challenge
Ransomware groups specifically target municipalities because public pressure to restore services creates payment incentives. Incidents have disrupted utility billing, transit systems, permit processing, emergency dispatch, and payroll — in some cases for weeks. Outdated systems and limited IT staff make public sector environments attractive targets.
Many government environments run systems that are years behind on security updates — not from negligence, but because patching operational technology and legacy applications is complex and disruptive. These unpatched systems are a known exploitation path for ransomware, nation-state actors, and opportunistic attackers.
A breach affecting citizen data triggers mandatory notification under MFIPPA and PIPEDA — and then a public audit trail. Council, ratepayers, and the media will ask what controls were in place and why they failed. The reputational and political consequences of a preventable incident extend well beyond the technical damage.
How We Help
We segment public-facing services, operational systems, and administrative infrastructure so that a compromised workstation cannot reach utility SCADA, financial systems, or citizen databases. Limit lateral movement — limit the blast radius of any incident.
Spear-phishing campaigns targeting municipal officials, finance staff, and IT administrators are increasingly common — often as the first step in a ransomware deployment. We stop these attacks at the email gateway before credentials are compromised or malware is installed.
Immutable, geographically separated backups of financial systems, citizen records, and operational databases ensure that when ransomware strikes, you restore from clean backups — not from a ransom payment. Recovery in hours, not weeks. Public services stay on.
MFIPPA, PIPEDA, and Treasury Board security directives require demonstrable, documented controls. We help municipalities and agencies build a documented security posture — including risk assessments, control mapping, and incident response plans — that satisfies auditors, insurers, and oversight bodies.
Compliance & Regulatory
Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act — governs personal information held by Ontario municipalities, including citizen records, staff data, and operational files.
Provincial agencies and broader public sector organizations in Ontario are subject to FIPPA, which imposes similar obligations with broader scope than MFIPPA.
Federal baseline privacy law applicable to government-operated commercial services and federally regulated entities in the public sector.
Directive on Security Management and Policy on Government Security set federal security requirements for systems handling government data, including cloud and outsourced services.
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security guidance for government organizations, including critical infrastructure protection frameworks and ransomware response best practices.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has issued orders establishing minimum security expectations for municipal systems handling personal information.
Not sure where you stand?
We offer a no-cost security review tailored to your regulatory obligations.
Ready to get started?
We work with municipalities, school boards, and provincial agencies across Canada. A free assessment will identify your highest-risk exposures, map your controls to MFIPPA obligations, and give you a prioritized remediation plan you can take to council.
