Anonymous hacks federal websites

• The hacker group Anonymous claimed responsibility Wednesday for a cyberattack on the federal government’s computer servers that shut down federal emails and several department websites.

“On June 17, Government of Canada websites were affected by a denial of service attack impacting email, Internet access and information technology assets,” the Treasury Board said in a statement. “We are working on restoring services as soon as possible.

“We continue to be vigilant in monitoring any potential vulnerabilities.”

Sites for Justice, Public Works and Government Services, the main Canada.ca page, Shared Services Canada (the government’s super-IT department) and even the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) were among some of those that were down.

Government email acc es s for some department and ministerial staff was also down, with political staffers handing out their personal email addresses to media.

Several sites came back online later.

Internet hacker group Anonymous posted a YouTube video and statement claiming responsibility for the attack. The video said it was in response to the government’s Anti-Terrorism Bill C-51, which was recently passed in Parliament.

“Greetings citizens of Canada, we are Anonymous. Today, this 17th of June 2015 we launched an attack against the Canadian senate and gov- ernment of Canada websites in protest against the recent passing of bill C-51,” the group says.

Anonymous calls on Canadians to take to the streets Saturday to protest Bill C-51, the anti-terrorism legislation, which it says targets minority groups and dissidents.

“Do we trade our privacy for security?” says the voice-over on the video. “Stand for your rights. Take to the streets in protest this 20th of June, 2015. Disregard these laws which are unjust, even illegal.”

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE), which is responsible for the protection of government computer systems and elec-

Greetings citizens of Canada, we are

Anonymous

tronic information, says thousands of attempts are made every day to infiltrate government networks.

The system includes more than 57,000 servers, 9,000 Internet connections and is accessed by more than 377,000 public servants and millions of Canadians.

Last Friday, employees of the House of Commons were warned to be on the lookout for suspicious emails from hackers seeking personal information. Two memos sent from Commons IT staff said its employees and privatesector workers were “currently being targeted by several cyberattacks.”

The first alert, sent Friday morning, said hackers had stolen large volumes of personal data in the attacks.

A second alert, just after noon, said there was no evidence personal data had been stolen from Commons accounts, but did say they had been targeted.

It appears from the memos hackers were sending phishing emails that look like they come from official accounts, but instead were a technological ruse to trick recipients into giving up personal information.

Commons IT officials, in the most recent memo, warned workers not to give their passwords to anyone and to delete any suspicious-looking messages.

Last July, a phishing scam that had the hallmarks of a state-sponsored attack all owed hackers into the systems of the National Research Council.

The government blamed China for the attack that forced the NRC to shut down its computer system and use a temporary network while a new $32.5-million system was built to better withstand further attacks. The NRC’s systems were also isolated from other federal systems.

The NRC was one of several agencies in Shared Services Canada’s national security and science portfolios — which includes Health Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Department of National Defence, Transport Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency — that have among the most complex and sensitive IT infrastructure in the country.

The intrusion came from “a highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor,” said the Treasury Board.

In January 2011, “spearphishing” attacks are believed to have been perpetrated using servers in China. Hackers gained access to Finance and Treasury Board networks by sending malicious emails to high-ranking officials containing a link to a webpage infected with a sophisticated virus.