Quebec shuts down 3,992 websites as 'preventative measure' after security flaw discovered
CTV
Quebec shut down 3,992 sites on Sunday as a preventative measure after the government discovered a major security flaw affecting computer systems around the world.
Minister Responsible for Digital Transformation and Access to Information Eric Caire explained that all sites are being scanned for possible threats caused by the "Log4j" flaw. Log4j is a widely deployed Java-based logging utility used around the globe, and the federal government issued a warning Friday that "active scanning and exploitation of this vulnerability have been observed."
"On Friday the 10th, we received, like everyone else on the planet, a status report on a computer security flaw that affects many systems," Caire said in a news conference.
The flaw "allows an attacker to break into a server" and then introduce malicious code and thus "take control of the server" and all the data it contains.
The offending element is part of a widely-used open source Apache library. Fortunately, there is a patch to fix the security problem.
