Recent House of Commons Cyberattack Under Investigation

The view of the government benches is seen from the Speakers Chair in the Chamber of the House of Commons, in Ottawa, on Sept. 12, 2024. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

A recent cyberattack targeting the House of Commons is currently under investigation.

“The House of Commons is working closely with its national security partners to further investigate this matter,” a spokesperson for the House of Commons told The Epoch Times in an Aug. 14 email.

The spokesperson said the House of Commons cannot speak further about the incident at this time for “security reasons,” while investigations are still underway.

Meanwhile, Canada’s national cyber security agency has been made aware of the incident.

A spokesperson from the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) told The Epoch Times in an Aug. 14 email that the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, a part of CSE, is aware of the incident and is working in collaboration with the House of Commons “to provide support.”

The CSE, which works with government partners to help protect their networks and systems from cyber threats, has not yet attributed the attack to a specific threat actor. It says it’s initially focused on mitigating and managing the incident.

“Attribution of a cyber incident is difficult,” the CSE said. “Investigating cyber threat activity takes resources and time, and there are many considerations involved in the process of attributing malicious cyber activity to specific threat actors, and/or nation-states.”

Threat Report

While the CSE could not confirm who was behind the attack, a recent CSE threat report indicated that the greatest strategic cyber threats to Canada are the cyber programs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russia, and Iran.

Notably, the report says, “The PRC’s cyber program surpasses other hostile states in both the scope and resources dedicated to cyber threat activity against Canada.”

In the report, Defence Minister Bill Blair calls Canada a “valuable target” for cybercriminals and state adversaries looking to make a profit or disrupt Canada’s systems.

“In the last two years, we have witnessed a sharp increase in both the number and severity of cyber incidents, many of which target our essential services,” Blair said. “Actors outside our borders have also attempted to influence public opinion and intimidate our population, including in the Canadian diaspora, through coordinated cyber campaigns.”

The head of Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Rajiv Gupta, said in the report that state adversaries are “getting bolder and more aggressive,” and that cyber criminals are “increasingly benefiting” from new business models and the use of artificial intelligence.

Last year, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) said it had become aware of a  cyberattack that targeted 18 MPs and senators affiliated with IPAC in 2021. IPAC is an international group of cross-party legislators, which seeks to change how democratic countries deal with Beijing by addressing threats to the rules-based and human rights systems posed by China.

The attack was carried out in 2021 by a group of Chinese state-sponsored hackers known as APT31.

Last year, seven Chinese nationals allegedly part of APT31 were charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, for activities that the U.S. Department of Justice said took place over 14 years and targeted critics of Beijing in the United States and abroad.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.