Planning For, and Surviving, a Cybersecurity Attack

Cybersecurity attacks on public agencies are no longer a question of “Will we be attacked?”, but rather of “When will we be attacked?” The City of Hayward has a strong reputation for being proactive and well prepared and had helped several neighboring cities to recover from cybersecurity incidents. As a result, when Hayward was hit by a vicious attack by the ransomware variant “Underground Team” in July of 2023, the City responded fast and decisively. Recovery was quick in all city departments, very little data was compromised, and no ransom was paid. The City of Hayward’s response is held up as a model for other cities. Major Library services were restored rapidly, though some services took longer to restore, mainly because of conflicting priorities and limited resources. Hayward’s CIO and its Library Director will share their experiences with responding to the incident, the long-term impacts, and the takeaways.