Overview
- A 34-page audit confirms the rural municipality lost more than $472,000 during a weeks-long cyber breach in 2019–2020.
- After discovering the attack, officials did not examine how criminals accessed municipal bank accounts, which the auditor says forfeited a chance to prevent future incidents.
- Between Dec. 19, 2019, and Jan. 5, 2020, 48 online withdrawals just under $10,000 were made from a Stride Credit Union account; the RCMP was notified and the account was closed.
- The review also examined allegations at six other municipalities involving procurement irregularities, ineligible expenses and weak governance practices.
- Recommendations call for province-backed cybersecurity training and tools, tighter oversight of grants, stronger financial checks, and adoption of baseline controls such as two-factor authentication.