Canada: Government sites down due to hack attack are back online – Many Canadian government websites have come back online after being downfor several hours following a hacking attack on Wednesday.
Tony Clement, a member of Parliament and the Chairman of the Treasury Board, said government servers had been hit by a cyber attack on Wednesday.
Mr. Clement said he did not know if any of the data had been intercepted.
In a video posted online, the Anonymous hacking group is claimed to be responsible for this attack.
“We are working very hard to restore services and discover the origin of the attack,” Mr. Clement said.
CTV News reported that the websites went down around 12 noon Canadian time (04:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
Some of the sites, including those of the Canadian Secret Service and that of its Parliament, were restored around 3:00 p.m. local time.
Mr. Clement told reporters that the attack was a Dynamic Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.
DDOS attacks are a common type of web attack that involves overloading a web server with too many requests.
In a video allegedly posted on YouTube by the Anonymous hacking group, it is claimed that the group carried out the attack in retaliation for the recently passed anti-terrorism law, also known as C-51.
In the video, a computer-generated voice says that the Bill “is a clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” “Bill C-51 targets minority groups,” the same voice adds.
Bill C-51 was passed by the House of Commons in May and passed by the Senate on June 10.
A few days ago, the IT department warned employees that "during this period we will be the target of many cyber attacks," according to a CTV News report.
