Numerous government websites in Canada experienced performance issues and error messages due to a cyber-attack orchestrated by the India Cyber Force. Federal intelligence agencies have expressed concerns that these attacks could escalate in severity over the upcoming weeks, coinciding with escalating tensions between the Trudeau and Modi administrations.
The genesis of this conflict can be traced back to the Canadian Prime Minister’s allegations against the government led by Shri Narendra Modi. These allegations accused the Modi government of orchestrating the assassination of a prominent Khalistan leader on foreign soil. Modi and his administration vehemently denied these claims.
In response to these accusations, a hacking group based in India, known as the Indian Cyber Force, initiated cyber-attacks on Canada’s national infrastructure. They signaled their intent to continue these intense attacks in the days ahead.
The Canadian Armed Forces’ website bore the brunt of these attacks, with the hackers successfully rendering the portal inaccessible for a period exceeding three hours. This raised eyebrows as military computer networks are typically separate from other government websites. The synchronized disruption across all these platforms was both unexpected and alarming.
Canada’s Defense Minister, Bill Blair, confirmed the incident involving the Canadian Armed Forces and attributed it to a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS). In this type of attack, hackers flood a web portal with fraudulent traffic, effectively preventing genuine users from accessing it and causing significant disruptions.
S. Jaishankar, India’s Minister of External Affairs, denied claims that the attack had been instigated by Indian hackers funded by intelligence agencies. However, he refrained from commenting on the potential involvement of a cyber organization with ties to the BJP government.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office in Canada is closely monitoring the situation and engaging in diplomatic efforts to stay abreast of developments.
