Canada: Indian DDoS attack against military and parliament websites

A DDoS attack led by Indian hacktivists struck the websites of the Canadian Armed Forces and House of Commons. The military’s website, hit on September 27, 2023, remained offline for a few hours. The parliament website, attacked on September 25, was still running slowly on September 28. Hackers also targeted a secondary website of Elections Canada, which was taken offline for an hour, on September 27.

An Indian cybercriminal group known as “Indian Cyber Force” claimed responsibility for the attacks against the Armed Forces and Elections Canada. The group took control of the websites of several small Canadian businesses, replacing their homepages with a shot from the Matrix films, along with a message in broken English.

Hacktivists explain the attacks are a response to a statement made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on September 18, 2023. He had declared, before Parliament, that there were “credible allegations” concerning India’s involvement in the assassination of the Sikh nationalist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The latter, who was on India’s wanted list for years, was gunned down in June 2023.

“Geopolitical events generally lead to an increase in disruptive cyber campaigns. We will continue to monitor all cyber threats and share information on these threats with our partners and involved parties, so as to prevent incidents,” commented Ryan Foreman, spokesperson for Canada’s Communications Security Establishment.