Bloc Québécois site hacked by Islamist group

A group calling itself the United Islamic Cyber Force took credit for a cyber attack on the Bloc Québécois website and many other sites Monday morning.

The Bloc’s home page was replaced with a paragraph in red font on a black background under the heading “United Islamic Cyber Force, Salami Ala Aqsha.”

The message describes an invasion of the Arabian Peninsula and Rome, among other things.

The Bloc’s director of communications, Simon Charbonneau, said the incident came to his attention around 9 a. m. “For now, there is nothing confirming that it’s the Bloc specifically that was targeted,” he said. “We’re working with the competent authorities.”

He added that the Bloc didn’t receive any threats that would suggest that the party’s staff members are at risk.

The party’s IT team replaced the black page with a “site under construction” message shortly after noon.

Helmi Noman, a senior researcher with the University of Toronto Citizen Lab, pointed out that the Bloc wasn’t the only target of the cyber attack. The hackers attacked a web server hosting a number of websites, including the Bloc’s.

“As a result, the same defacement message appears when one tries to access other websites on the same server,” he said.

“This type of website defacement has been common in the past few years, especially with the rise of the militant groups in Iraq and Syria.”

He explained that the group may not have attacked the Bloc’s site for political reasons, but because its server had chinks in its armour that were easy to exploit.

For now, there is nothing confirming that it’s the Bloc specifically that was targeted. SIMON CHARBONNEAU

“Hackers in the past used to show off their hacking skills by defacing random websites and leaving various personal messages. Recently, however, many of these hackers have been crafting political messages to attract media attention,” he added.

However, a spokesperson for the United Islamic Cyber Force told Presse Canadienne Monday the Bloc was targeted because of the party’s position on women wearing niqabs during citizenship ceremonies.

“The Bloc Québécois was the target simply because of their lack of respect towards women who wear the hijab,” the spokesperson said.

Last week, the Bloc posted a photo on its Facebook page of the House of Commons seen through the eyeholes of a niqab, with a caption saying the party believes people’s faces must be uncovered during citizenship ceremonies.

In recent weeks, several websites have been defaced by Islamist hackers. In late January, the small town of Terrasse- Vaudreuil saw its site hacked by a group called the “Middle East Cyber Army.” More recently, The Suburban newspaper was also hacked by a group that claims to be anti- Israel.