MPs, senator ask why government didn't warn them they were targeted by China-backed hackers
CBC
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis says his privilege as a parliamentarian was violated when the Canadian government failed to warn him and other members of a parliamentary alliance that they had been targeted by China-affiliated hackers.
Genuis said the FBI told the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) that members of the international group had been hit with a pixel reconnaissance cyberattack launched by a suspected Beijing-controlled entity in 2021.
He and other Canadian IPAC members only found out last week, he said.
"This was part of a coordinated attack," Genuis told the House of Commons Monday morning, rising on a question of privilege.
"This was identified as a progressive reconnaissance attack — an attack aimed at gathering useful information to be used for subsequent escalating attacks against us."
Liberal MP John McKay, another targeted member of IPAC, told CBC News he received a verbal briefing from IPAC's executive director warning him that the hacking group Advanced Persistent Threat 31 (APT31) was behind the attack and had access to their computers. The U.K. and U.S. allege the group is an arm of China's Ministry of State Security.
"The problem is that this attack is vague. And it's not clear to me how any information could be accessed or could be used," McKay said.
"It's a bit disconcerting."
The story was first reported by the Globe and Mail Monday morning.
According to Genuis, the hackers used a mailing tool that allowed them to track delivery metrics on emails and receive data from victims who opened the emails — including IP addresses, browser types and operating systems.
"The way I understand it, it's either something or it's nothing," said McKay.
Genuis said other Canadians were targeted by the attack and not all are comfortable with coming forward with their names.
In a statement released earlier on Monday, Liberal MP Judy Sgro, Conservative MPs James Bezan, Stephanie Kusie and Tom Kmiec, and Sen. Marilou McPhedran confirmed they were affected by the attack and joined Genuis and McKay in demanding to know why they weren't informed sooner.
"I can't see a good reason for not telling people that they're being targeted, especially when those people are parliamentarians," said McPhedran.
People who use the Indigenous-led overnight shelter on the edge of downtown Winnipeg are weighing their next steps after learning the facility is set to shut down, but Manitoba's premier says nobody will get left behind.
An 81-year-old man from Prince County has died after a single-vehicle crash on Route 14 near Christopher Cross, police say.
The B.C. government has raised the ceiling to $75,000 for potential damages over intimate-image abuse.
A man was found dead inside a house on Elm Street in Niagara Falls after it caught fire on Wednesday night, police say.
It’s been eight days since Suncor’s Sarnia refinery reported an oil spill into the St. Clair River, and it remains unclear what caused the pipeline leak, how much got into the water — and where cleanup efforts are at.
A joint operation involving Edmonton police has led to the deportation of two men, over what police say is a wave of extortions targeting the city's South Asian community.
Red Lake is hoping a petition will help it land federal funding for a new arena.
An N.W.T. MLA says the territory needs to fiercely protect treaty rights and territorial waters, amid Alberta’s merger of two major river basins, and the proposed treatment and release of oilsands tailings into the environment.
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments against the Liberal government's deeply controversial decision to outlaw certain firearms.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet last fall courtesy of the Saudi government.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s department of Transportation and Infrastructure is promising policy changes after a Conception Bay South family spoke out about the expropriation and resale of the land where their home once stood.
Nova Scotia’s seniors and long-term care minister is calling on administrators at nursing homes to make direct appeals to their employees amidst protracted contract talks with the union representing workers at more than 50 sites.
A pair of Saint John poverty researchers have told N.B. Power's rate hearing that rising electricity prices are a serious affordability problem for low-income households and the utility or provincial government should match programs in place elsewhere that would help.