The B.C. government is set to provide an update Monday into a series of cyberattacks on the provincial IT systems earlier this spring.
Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth is set to deliver the latest on this matter at noon.
In May, the premier said the government was the target of “sophisticated cybersecurity incidents.” The BC Public Service added that it believes with a “high degree of confidence” that those behind the attack were a “state or state-sponsored actor” over the course of a few weeks.
At the time, the province said it didn’t believe any sensitive information was compromised, adding it hadn’t received any requests for ransom payments.
“This is not a ransomware attack from what we have been advised. This has been a very sophisticated attempted attack incident, and one of the things that has given that is cyber experts have told us is the way in which they tried to cover up their tracks,” Farnworth said May 10.
“What I can tell you is it became evident to the technical experts within government and through the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, as well as the private sector, Microsoft, detection and response team, that what they were seeing while investigating … that this was a very sophisticated operation.”
The head of the BC Public Service said Premier David Eby was briefed on the issue in mid-April, adding incidents were discovered throughout that month, as well as into May.
Political opponents have slammed the BC NDP for how it relayed information about the cyberattacks. A day after word of the incidents were shared by the province, politicians sparred in question period, with BC United saying the NDP had “concealed a massive cyberattack on the provincial government for eight days.”
We’ll have the latest from the province’s update Monday both on-air and online. Stay with CityNews for the latest.