Canada, allies condemn Russian cyberattacks

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) - The Russian military is guilty of repeated and "destructive cyber activity" targeting Europe and Ukraine, the Canadian government said in a statement Tuesday.

The statement lists five instances of "malicious" attacks and takes direct aim at the most recent incident that occurred in February.

On Feb. 24, the day Russia launched its war on Ukraine, “disruptive cyber activity directly targeted the Viasat KA-SAT satellite Internet service in Ukraine, rendering critical infrastructure for Internet and communications inoperable," said the Canadian government statement. "This activity disrupted the Internet connectivity of tens of thousands of people across Europe.

"Canada assesses that the Russian military was behind this incident (and it follows) a pattern of disruptive cyber activity that demonstrates a repeated disregard for the rules-based international order. This activity also demonstrates the willingness of Russia to use its cyber capabilities irresponsibly."

The Global Affairs Canada joint statement is signed by several senior Cabinet ministers, including Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Defense Minister Anita Anand.

The statement said other instances of Russian malicious attacks include, the targeting of the Ukrainian banking sector in February 2022, the exploitation of the SolarWinds platform by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in 2021, the SVR’s targeting of Canadian COVID-19 vaccine research and development in 2020, interference by Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) in Georgia’s 2020 parliamentary elections and the development and indiscriminate use of NotPetya malware in 2017, which caused massive damage to government and business networks globally.

The release says that Canada and its allies, including the United States, UK, Australia, New Zealand and the EU will not stand by while Russia flouts international law.

"Canada is ... sharing valuable cyber threat intelligence and providing cyber assistance to Ukraine in an effort to strengthen that country’s defence against Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion.”