The city will not pay a ransom to the attackers that took down its website last November.
Saint John’s municipal website and many of its services were taken offline as a result of the ransomware attack.
Since last fall, common council has received regular reports on the recovery effort from city manager John Collin.
At Monday evening’s meeting, Collin told council a third-party consultation firm said there was ‘no indication of any significant breach of information.’
“Between the reality that there has been little to no compromise of data, and that our corrupted data is recoverable through backup, I have decided to direct the staff to cease any exploration of ransom payment options,” said Collin.
The city manager said the investigation determined no records, including police files or personal identifying information were compromised.
The city manager added that the report was not a ‘firm guarantee’ that no data was uncovered, and reminded councillors of the importance of maintaining safe internet habits.
“Cyber attacks, regrettably, are here to stay, and personal information is being compromised on a daily basis,” Collin said. “We continue to remind all members of our community that they should on a regular, routine basis check their financial records and report any suspicious activity to their financial institution.”
The city is still working to rebuild a new network, which is on pace to be rolled out sometime this spring. Its new website is set to be unveiled February 23.
