How the Columbus ransomware attack influenced its proposed 2025 budget

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) – On the heels of a major data leak on the dark web, setting money aside to strengthen its technology department is just one portion of the City of Columbus' proposed $1.23 billion budget for 2025.

Mayor Andrew Ginther announced next year's general fund budget proposal on Wednesday. Amongst the proposed expenses is $1.6 million for hiring more full-time employees to the city's technology department, in order to "strengthen IT infrastructure and data management," a release from the mayor's office said.

The proposed funding comes after city IT workers detected the hacker group Rhysida had infiltrated their servers in July. After Rhysida leaked the data it stole on the dark web — despite Ginther assuring residents that the stolen data was "encrypted or corrupted" — NBC4 revealed that unencrypted data for some residents was posted, including names from domestic violence cases and police officers' Social Security numbers.

In October, the city confirmed it had allocated $7 million through the end of 2024 to recover from the ransomware attack . Columbus' legal team estimated half a million people had their information exposed in the leak.

The largest expense in the proposed budget is $744 million for improving "neighborhood safety" by hiring 180 new officers to the Columbus Division of Police and 45 new firefighters to the city's Division of Fire.

The budget also sets aside $26.8 million for summer, after-school and job-readiness programs; $10 million for social services organizations; and $4.3 million to fund staff that would allocate money to affordable housing bonds, grants and federal housing dollars. The budget is expected to leave $105 million in the city's rainy day fund by the end of 2025.

The City Charter, also known as Columbus' constitution, requires the mayor to present a budget proposal to City Council on or before Nov. 15 annually. The Council will begin deliberating the budget, including hearing from members of the public, at their upcoming meetings, and is expected to approve an amended budget in early 2025.