Kush Sharma steps down as Chief Information Security Officer of City of Hamilton

Kush Sharma, the City of Hamilton's first chief information security officer, is "no longer an employee of the City of Hamilton," the city confirmed to The Hamilton Spectator. Sharma was hired in March 2025 to help lead the city's recovery from a 2024 cyberattack that disabled 80 per cent of its IT systems. According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously held similar roles with the City of Toronto and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern. The city declined to say why or when he left, citing privacy and confidentiality considerations.

The Hamilton Spectator reports that the city parted ways with Sharma 18 months after hiring him to help lead its response to a major cyberattack. According to the Spectator, the city’s hierarchy of information technology officials still listed Sharma on Sept. 22, and the following day his name was removed from the website. The Spectator reports that Sharma could not be reached on Wednesday morning through the city's telephone extension system.

According to the Spectator, the city had promoted his arrival after the attack as one of several changes made to enhance its cyber-resilience. The Spectator reports that in the attack hackers encrypted city files to hold them hostage, affecting services from traffic cameras and public health data to planning permits.

Marnie Cluckie, then city manager, told the Spectator last fall that the city had made changes to its senior leadership team and other levels of management.