Hackers to leak ‘real reason’ Baird left politics
Hackers with Anonymous — who this week leaked a seemingly legitimate secret document on cybersecurity at Canada’s spy agency — threatened Wednesday to release decrypted text messages from former foreign affairs minister John Baird allegedly showing the “real reason” why he abruptly left politics.
The warning was made in social media from an account the National Post confirms is one operated by activists responsible for the CSIS leak.
No evidence was presented by the hacktivists to support the claim.
When reached by the Post, Baird declined to comment on the warning. Requests for comment to the Department of Foreign Affairs went unanswered.
No timeline was given for any potential release.
Baird, who was one of the highest-profile members of Stephen Harper’s cabinet, quit suddenly in February to join the private sector. Announcing his resignation with optimism for “the next chapter in my life,” Baird appeared to be heading to Bay Street, where he indeed found himself in demand.
The month after leaving office, he was hired as an international adviser to Barrick Gold Corp and nominated to the board of directors of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. In May he joined law firm Bennett Jones LLP as a senior adviser.
The Twitter account @OpAnonDown — named in honour of its professed mission of seeking justice for an Anonymous protester shot and killed by the RCMP during a confrontation in Dawson Creek, B.C. — said text messages and a video are pending for release on Baird’s exit.
The hackers behind that account leaked a document on Monday marked secret and purported to be from the Treasury Board of Canada.
It revealed previously unknown details of the foreign stations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). The government has not debunked the CSIS information, however, the National Post has not been able to independently verify its legitimacy.
The CBC reported that the leak the Post revealed is now subject to a probe by the RCMP and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE).
Neither agency would confirm this.