Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hacked, services affected

A hooded man holds a laptop computer as cybercode is projected onto him in this illustrative photo taken May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

OTTAWA, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Hackers launched a cyberattack on Canada’s foreign ministry last week and some services are still down, officials said on Monday without disclosing who Ottawa believes was responsible.

The incident was detected last Wednesday, a day before Canada’s signals intelligence agency said operators of critical infrastructure networks should strengthen their defenses against Russian state-sponsored threats.

“Essential services … are currently working. Some Internet access and Internet-based services are not currently working,” said a statement from Treasury Board, which has overall responsibility for government operations.

“There is no indication that other departments have been affected,” he said, adding that no further details would be released.

Neither the Treasury Board nor the Department of Foreign Affairs responded when asked if Russian actors were responsible.

Canada has taken a firm line against Russian military buildup on the Ukrainian border.

Ottawa rarely talks about hacking into its systems. In 2011, officials said “a highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor” broke into a top research organization. Beijing denied.

In 2014, a former Canadian cabinet minister said Chinese operators were suspected of hacking the Treasury Board and the Ministry of Finance in 2011.

Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Howard Goller

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