The pro-Russian hacker group NoName057 again claimed two cyberattacks on Saturday. The sites of the Senate and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were affected.
The Senate site has been restored, but at the end of the afternoon, Justin Trudeau’s site is still experiencing problems. The page sometimes loads slowly or not at all.
The websites of various Canadian infrastructures have been the subject of cyberattacks by this pro-Russian group since April.
SCREENSHOT FROM NONAME057’S TELEGRAM ACCOUNT(16)
The hacker group NoName057 claimed responsibility on Telegram for a new attack affecting the site of the Canadian Senate and that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The attack was intended as a response to National Defense Minister Anita Anand’s decision to train Ukrainian soldiers in Latvia, announced on Wednesday, NoName057 said on Telegram.
Earlier Saturday, the same group also launched a series of attacks on Italian websites, including that of the Minister of Internal Affairs. This offensive comes in the middle of a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky to Italy.
Repeat
Justin Trudeau’s website has been the target of pro-Russian attacks for several weeks. By mid-April, the site had experienced significant difficulties for several days in a row. The page was intermittently flailing, or loading very slowly.
These offensives occurred when Justin Trudeau received his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Chmyhal, in Toronto.
“Let me be extremely clear: the fact that for a few hours there was a government page that was difficult to access is not going to deter us from being present and always there to do more to support the ‘Ukraine,’ assured the Prime Minister at the time.
Former police officer and cybersecurity expert Paul Laurier then told The Press that Russian agents came directly in support of the cyberpirates.
New cyberattacks also took place during the weekend of April 22 and 23. The websites of the Senate, the Port of Montreal and the Port of Hamilton-Oshawa, in Ontario, were also targeted.
“Is there a resurgence of these types of attacks? Yes. And with complete impunity, because Russian cyberpirates can do these crimes and no one is going to get them in Russia, ”explained cybersecurity expert Steve Waterhouse.