Canadian spy agency says it hacked drug traffickers, extremists, and a ransomware gang last year


Offering a rare glimpse at the priorities of a top spy organization, Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said it conducted a handful of state-authorized hacks last year in order to disrupt the operations of drug traffickers, violent extremists, and a ransomware gang.

The disclosures in the Canadian intelligence agency’s annual report underscore some of the main national security threats that face Canada and its closest allies: ranging from the import of illegal drugs to cyberattacks. The spy agency, CSE, is tasked with collecting foreign intelligence, defending government systems, and disrupting online adversaries.

Read more…
Source:  TechCrunch News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • RedCurl corporate espionage hackers resume attacks with updated tools

    November 18, 2021

    A crew of highly-skilled hackers specialized in corporate espionage has resumed activity, one of their victims this year being a large wholesale company in Russia. Tracked as RedCurl, the group attacked the Russian business twice this year, each time using carefully constructed spear-phishing emails with initial-stage malware. Active since 2018, RedCurl is responsible for at least 30 ...

  • New Zealand spooks say satellite snooping is obsolete – better intel is found elsewhere

    November 11, 2021

    New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) – the nation’s signals intelligence and infosec agency – will retire its Waihopai satellite communications interception station because it’s no longer needed. “The nature of telecommunications has changed, and other needs and capabilities have overtaken the sort of satellite communication interception that has been done at Waihopai,” said Andrew ...

  • Average ransomware payment for US victims more than $6 million, survey says

    November 9, 2021

    A new report from Mimecast has found that the US leads the way in the size of payouts following ransomware incidents. In the “State of Ransomware Readiness” study from Mimecast, researchers spoke with 742 cybersecurity professionals and found that 80% of them had been targeted with ransomware over the last two years. Of that 80%, 39% paid ...

  • Toronto public transportation system reports ransomware attack

    November 2, 2021

    The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) — which runs the city’s public transportation system — reported a ransomware attack this weekend that forced conductors to use radio, crippled the organization’s email system and made schedule information on platforms and apps unavailable. In a statement on Friday, the TTC said it confirmed it was the victim of a ...

  • Canadian province health care system disrupted by cyberattack

    November 1, 2021

    The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador has suffered a cyberattack that has led to severe disruption to healthcare providers and hospitals. The attack took place on October 30th, causing regional health systems to shut down their networks and cancel thousands of medical appointments. This outage affected health systems in Central Health, Eastern Health, Western Health, ...

  • New advanced hacking group targets governments, engineers worldwide

    September 23, 2021

    A new hacking group targeting entities worldwide to spy on them has been unmasked by researchers. Dubbed FamousSparrow by ESET, on Thursday, the team said that the advanced persistent threat (APT) group — many of whom are state-sponsored — is a new entry to the cyberespionage space. Believed to have been active since at least 2019, the ...