Cyber Incident Victim: Gouvernement du Québec
Date:
Nov 2023
Location:
Canada
Summary
A cyberattack disrupted municipal services in Lac-Mégantic, affecting facilities including the ecocentre, city hall, sports center, and tourist station. Essential utilities such as drinking water and fire safety services were rapidly secured, but email systems, public Wi-Fi, and fine payment capabilities remained offline. Recovery efforts involving external experts progressed slowly, with data archives still inaccessible. The city confirmed no ransom demands were made and emphasized protecting citizens' and employees' personal data. This incident followed unrelated prior IT disruptions, prompting an accelerated network audit to address vulnerabilities. Municipal officials requested public patience during restoration.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
The cyberattack impacting municipal services in Lac-Mégantic, Québec, was first publicly disclosed by the city on November 30, 2023, following an IT outage affecting nearly all municipal operations. Critical infrastructure, including drinking water and wastewater systems, was secured within the first hours, alongside fire safety services, preventing immediate public safety risks. Non-essential services such as the ecocentre, City Hall, the Mégantic Sports Centre, and the Baie-des-Sables tourist station experienced prolonged disruptions. Email systems remained inoperable until at least December 5, public WiFi at the sports center was unavailable, and residents could not pay traffic fines or access municipal documents. Communications Director Karine Dubé described the incident as a "major IT disaster," confirming that internet networks were being gradually restored but historical archives remained inaccessible days after the attack.
The city engaged external cybersecurity experts immediately after detection, with teams working through the weekend to restore systems and recover data, though progress was described as slow. This incident followed unrelated IT disruptions in November caused by a failed network maintenance operation, which had similarly affected email, reservation systems, and sports center calendars. In response to the earlier outage, the municipal council had contracted an IT firm on November 21 to conduct an audit addressing network vulnerabilities; following the cyberattack, the firm’s mandate shifted to support network reconstruction. Officials confirmed no ransom demands or threats were received and emphasized prioritizing citizen and employee data protection. Mayor Julie Morin acknowledged the scale of recovery efforts and requested public patience, noting the strain on municipal staff.