Cyber Incident Victim: National Research Council of Canada
Date:
Jul 2015
Location:
Canada
Summary
Anonymous breached Canadian government servers, including the National Research Council, in retaliation for the controversial anti-terror bill C-51. The attackers accessed and leaked databases containing personal information such as employee and user names, email addresses, and plain-text passwords from multiple government entities. The breach exposed systemic vulnerabilities, including unsecured storage of sensitive data, enabling unauthorized access to confidential records. This incident was part of a broader campaign targeting Canadian government infrastructure, with Anonymous vowing continued attacks until the bill was repealed, following previous disruptions to other official websites and data leaks from law enforcement agencies.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 2 techniques |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On June 24-25, 2015, the Anonymous hacktivist collective breached multiple Canadian government servers in retaliation for the passage of Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism Act. The attackers compromised the National Research Council (NRC) website on employment insurance, Québec Parental Insurance Plan Centre, and Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Solidarity (MTESS). They exfiltrated databases containing first names, last names, thousands of email addresses, and associated clear-text passwords, which Anonymous subsequently leaked publicly via Pastebin. Analysis confirmed the authenticity of the stolen credentials, which had never been previously exposed. This breach followed earlier Anonymous operations against Canadian targets on June 23-24, including defacement of the Montreal Police Union website and theft of 1,300 employee records from the Police Association of Ontario (PAO). The group cited government servers' persistent storage of credentials in unencrypted plaintext as a critical vulnerability enabling their intrusions.
The attacks formed part of a coordinated campaign against Bill C-51, which granted expanded surveillance powers to Canadian intelligence agencies. Anonymous temporarily shut down Canada.ca, the Department of Finance, and Treasury Board websites prior to the NRC breach. On July 1, 2015, they conducted repeated denial-of-service attacks against the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) website. The collective explicitly linked all operations to demands for the anti-terrorism legislation's repeal, threatening continued attacks until the bill was rescinded. Compromised systems exposed sensitive personal information of government employees and public users, with no recorded mitigation efforts by the affected agencies. The incident demonstrated systemic security deficiencies across Canadian government infrastructure, particularly regarding credential storage practices.