On Wednesday, Indian Hackers Attack on a Canadian Military Website the official website of the Canadian Armed Forces was momentarily unavailable. The Indian Cyber Force, a group of hackers that took credit for the cyberattack on the former Twitter platform for cyberattacks, allegedly attacked it.
The outage began at noon, according to Daniel Le Bouthillier, director of media relations at the Department of National Defence, and was later fixed. The majority of mobile devices couldn’t access the site, with the exception of few desktop users. Officials claimed that their systems were unaffected by the brief attack, nevertheless.
The compromised website is a distinct entity from the internal networks and public websites of the Canadian government and its national defence department. The incident is being looked into by a number of Canadian Forces groups, including the Navy, Special Operations Forces, and Air and Space campaigns.
Infringement on Sovereignty
A clear infringement of our sovereignty, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was India’s complicity in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.
The claims have been refuted by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, which believes they are unfounded and motivated.
The debate intensified last week when India decided to stop awarding new visas to Canadians in what was seen as retaliation. Masked gunmen murdered the late Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a well-known Sikh leader in British Columbia.
In a conversation with The Globe and Mail, Daniel Le Bouthillier, who heads media relations at the Department of National Defence, clarified that the conflict initiated around noon and was eventually resolved. Except for a handful of desktop users, the website remained largely inaccessible on mobile devices. Nonetheless, authorities verified that the hacking had not caused significant disruption to their systems.
It’s important to note that the compromised website operates independently from the Canadian government and its public websites and internal networks within the national defense department. Multiple units of the Canadian Forces, such as the Navy, Special Operations Forces, and Air and Space campaigns, are currently conducting an investigation into the incident.
Unwavering Sovereignty
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally accused India of conspiring in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil, stating, “The involvement of any foreign government in the murder of a Canadian on Canadian soil is an undeniable violation of our sovereignty.”
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has denied the allegations, describing them as unfounded and driven by ulterior motives.
The debate heated up last week when India forcibly stopped providing new visas to Canadians in what was perceived as retaliation. India banned the Khalistan movement as a separatist organisation in February 2023, and Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent proponent of the movement that calls for the establishment of a self-governing Sikh homeland within India, was called a terrorist “mastermind” by New Delhi.
The websites of Indian cyber attackers have been momentarily taken down by a loose coalition that includes Indian opponents. Telegram and Twitter are used by the Indian Cyber Force to disseminate information.
Best Resources for Activists
According to Brett Callow, a cybersecurity expert at AMSoFT, given the current geopolitical tensions, Canadian organisations – and organisations worldwide, for that matter – should presume that these attacks will continue.
They are affordable, simple to use, and quite noticeable. For activists or, in some circumstances, state-sponsored cyber operations, they are the ideal instrument.
In recent weeks, the Indian Cyber Force has asserted that it has taken down the websites of an Indonesian intelligence agency, a Bangladeshi police force, and a Canadian hospital.
These DDoS attacks are normally brief but can linger for several hours or even days and are carried out by hacker groups. Online criminal organisations build botnets—networks of compromised computers—which they exploit to bombard websites with millions of requests until the target gives in.
Instead than seriously harming internet users, most DDoS attacks try to disrupt them.
Requests for feedback have not received a prompt response from the Canadian cybersecurity agency, which is comparable to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.
Requests for comments also did not immediately receive a response from the Indian High Commission in London.
Due to an ongoing investigation, one official requested anonymity but claimed that the Department of National Defence’s servers were not compromised in the incident.
After question time on Thursday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said to reporters, This is a serious concern. We don’t want to draw hasty judgements, but we do take incidents like these seriously and look into them. That procedure is in progress.
Government websites in Canada have previously been targeted; on June 2, 2015, a number of websites were taken down.
That attack was allegedly carried out by the hacker collective Anonymous in retribution for Bill C-51, a monitoring measure passed by the previous Conservative administration.
In addition to several federal employees’ email services being affected, several federal departments’ websites, including weather.gc.ca, servicecanada.gc.ca, and parl.gc.ca, were taken offline during that incident.
Another group of hackers began a fresh attack on the network of the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board in July 2015, a body that adjudicates conflicts between federal employees and the public service.
Highlights : Indian Hackers Attack on a Canadian Military Website
• The incident commenced around midday and was resolved later.
• Daniel Le Bouthillier, the head of media relations at the Department of National Defence, confirmed this information.
• While some desktop users were able to access the site, most mobile device users couldn’t.
• ‘Anonymous’ claimed responsibility for the federal cyber attack and alleged retribution for Bill C-51.
• Security experts suggest that unknown hacks on government websites serve as a warning.