Foreign hackers attack Canadian government
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 By Greg Weston, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/16/pol-weston-hacking.html
An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government from China has given foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information, and forced at least two key departments off the internet, CBC News has learned.
The attack, first detected in early January, left Canadian counter-espionage agents scrambling to determine how much sensitive government information may have been stolen and by whom.
Highly placed sources tell CBC News the cyberattacks were traced back to computer servers in China.
But they caution there is no way of knowing whether the hackers are Chinese, or some other nationality routing their cybercrimes through China to cover their tracks.
So far, officials in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government have been all but mum on the breach of security.
The government initially issued a terse statement, passing it off as merely an “attempt to access” federal networks, and has refused to release any further information.
But sources have confirmed the attackers successfully penetrated the computer systems at the federal government’s two main economic nerve centres, the Finance Department and Treasury Board.
The hackers apparently managed to take control of computers in the offices of senior government executives as part of a scheme to steal the key passwords that unlock entire government data systems.
It is unclear whether the attackers managed to compromise other departmental computer networks, including those that contain Canadians’ sensitive personal information such as tax and health records.
Once the attack was detected, government cybersecurity officials immediately shut down all internet access in both departments in an attempt to stop stolen information from being sent back to the hackers over the net.
More on link
Other hacking cases
February 2011: U.S. computer security firm McAfee reports hackers operating from China stole sensitive information from Western oil companies in the United States, Taiwan, Greece and Kazakhstan, beginning in November 2009.
March 2010: Citizen Lab and the SecDev Group discover computers at embassies and government departments in 103 countries, including the Dalai Lama's office and India, were compromised by an attack originating from servers in China. They dub the network involved "GhostNet."
January 2010: Google claims cyberattacks from China have hit it and at least 20 other companies. Google shuts down its China operations.
June 2009: A top-secret memo by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns that cyber attacks on government, university and industry computers have been growing "substantially."
February 2008: Quebec provincial police say they dismantled a computer hacking network that targeted unprotected computers around the world, including government computers.
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 By Greg Weston, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/16/pol-weston-hacking.html
An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government from China has given foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information, and forced at least two key departments off the internet, CBC News has learned.
The attack, first detected in early January, left Canadian counter-espionage agents scrambling to determine how much sensitive government information may have been stolen and by whom.
Highly placed sources tell CBC News the cyberattacks were traced back to computer servers in China.
But they caution there is no way of knowing whether the hackers are Chinese, or some other nationality routing their cybercrimes through China to cover their tracks.
So far, officials in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government have been all but mum on the breach of security.
The government initially issued a terse statement, passing it off as merely an “attempt to access” federal networks, and has refused to release any further information.
But sources have confirmed the attackers successfully penetrated the computer systems at the federal government’s two main economic nerve centres, the Finance Department and Treasury Board.
The hackers apparently managed to take control of computers in the offices of senior government executives as part of a scheme to steal the key passwords that unlock entire government data systems.
It is unclear whether the attackers managed to compromise other departmental computer networks, including those that contain Canadians’ sensitive personal information such as tax and health records.
Once the attack was detected, government cybersecurity officials immediately shut down all internet access in both departments in an attempt to stop stolen information from being sent back to the hackers over the net.
More on link
Other hacking cases
February 2011: U.S. computer security firm McAfee reports hackers operating from China stole sensitive information from Western oil companies in the United States, Taiwan, Greece and Kazakhstan, beginning in November 2009.
March 2010: Citizen Lab and the SecDev Group discover computers at embassies and government departments in 103 countries, including the Dalai Lama's office and India, were compromised by an attack originating from servers in China. They dub the network involved "GhostNet."
January 2010: Google claims cyberattacks from China have hit it and at least 20 other companies. Google shuts down its China operations.
June 2009: A top-secret memo by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns that cyber attacks on government, university and industry computers have been growing "substantially."
February 2008: Quebec provincial police say they dismantled a computer hacking network that targeted unprotected computers around the world, including government computers.
