Canada's cybersecurity agency, Communications Security Establishment (CSE), is warning of a recent rise in cyberattacks by Russia-backed actors, including risks for critical websites and infrastructure providers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linked Canada’s support of Ukraine to recent attacks but said the attacks won’t change his government’s stance.
Pro-Russian groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on Trudeau’s website and the websites for the Port of Québec and Laurentian Bank, but there was no data breach or compromise. A denial-of-service attack brought down Hydro-Québec’s website and mobile app but did not affect critical systems.
Impact
Although there has been no significant damage from the recent attacks, Canadian officials say the threat from Russian-aligned actors targeting Ukraine’s allies is real. They believe the threat actors are developing additional cyber capabilities against the European Union and NATO, including the United States and Canada.
DXC perspective
We recommend that all organizations maintain a robust cyber defense program. We also support the Canadian Ministry of Defence’s advice, especially for organizations that power communities, offer internet access and provide healthcare and other critical services:
- When under imminent threat, isolate critical infrastructure components and services from the internet
- Separate sensitive tasks and manage administrative privileges and accounts on secure administrative workstations
- Implement network security zones to control and restrict access and data communication flows to certain components and users
- Test manual controls to ensure critical functions can operate if your network is unavailable
- Identify, separate and monitor information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) networks
- Test OT, including industrial control systems (ICS), as part of your incident response plan
- Protect your organization against denial-of-service attacks