Advertisement

Cyber-graffiti: Hacking of Canadian websites appears harmless, but more promised

A series of cyber-attacks against Canadian websites over the weekend may just be the first wave in a series of attacks promised as retribution for the arrest of an alleged teenage hacker in Ottawa.

It is likely too soon. however, to declare the country under attack by technological masterminds.

Toronto police, the City of Ottawa, and a Winnipeg hockey organization were all hit over the weekend, when hackers assumed control of their websites and replaced them with disappointing and unexpected alternatives.

Other reported weekend targets include the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ottawa Police Service’s online presence, which remains blank as of Monday morning.

A hacker that goes by the moniker Aerith has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks and vowed in an interview with the Globe and Mail to release a bombshell later on Monday.

“We are preparing a huge ‘bombshell’ right now that we will release in the next few hours, let’s just say – it will discredit the police forces,” he told the newspaper in an email.

But with most of the systems restored within hours, and no personal information apparently seized or stolen, it is not clear that those behind the attacks have world domination in mind.

Queen’s University professor and internet security expert David Skillicorn said he’ll be watching to see what this ‘bombshell’ entails, but it appears the attacks were primarily intended to embarrass the groups that own the sites.

“What it mostly is, is embarrassing for these police forces that their websites were so easy to hack,” Skillicorn told Yahoo Canada News.

“It’s about thumbing your nose at authority. It really is about the embarrassment factor for these police forces.”

The City of Ottawa reported experiencing technical issues several times over the weekend, and the Canadian Press reported the site had been temporarily replaced with an image of a dancing banana and a short message identifying a member of the Ottawa police force.

The officer in question is believed to have been connected with an investigation into an Ottawa teen, who faces 60 charges stemming from allegations of “swatting” – the act of filing false police reports that result in SWAT teams being sent to the homes of unsuspecting victims.

The Ottawa teen was charges earlier this year in connection to at least 30 false public shooting reports across North America.

The Globe reports that the boy’s father, who had been contacted by the hacker, held a press conference on Sunday to announce he had been given proof that his son was innocent.

The Toronto Star, meantime, reported that the Toronto Police Service website crashed Sunday night and a Twitter user with multiple accounts claimed responsibility for that attack as well.

The Twitter accounts have been suspended, but the Star reported the user also promised to target the websites of the Parliament of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada.

Both sites appear to be unaffected as of Monday.

Another cyber-attack, which may or may not be related, was reported against Hockey Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Sun reports the site was replaced over the weekend with a “picture with a curse word and a confusing message about Muslims.”

In all cases, those who own the site say they do not believe personal information was accessed or stolen. Which begs the question: What was the point?

In his interview with Yahoo Canada News, Skillicorn said that online attacks like this are usually as much about pride as they are about inflicting actual damage.

“It is partly the same as graffiti, right. You are putting your tag out there and showing you are clever enough to do this. In this case it appears to be intended to embarrass the police who are claiming this kid (who was charged with “swatting”) was some really serious criminal. Obviously someone close to him disagrees.”

Skillicorn said that standard company websites are often less secure than they are believed to be and accessible to those with some knowledge. Even if the site has additional security on nine common access points, there could be a tenth that has been left open a crack.

“The thing about websites is that they face the public, so they tend to be put in places with configurations that are not desperately secure to begin with,” Skillicorn said. “Very often they are configured by people who are doing it as a tiny part of their job and using systems that are out of the box.”

In regards to the weekend attacks, Skillicorn said it doesn’t appear to be anything that should be of wide public concern. But we’ll know more if and when the parties responsible follow through on their ‘bombshell’ promise.

“We are waiting for the other shoe to drop to see if someone with real technical chops is behind this. If that happens it might be more significant. At the moment this looks just like simple known exploits by someone who doesn’t necessarily have to be very skilled.”