Canada's National Research Council detects 'cyber incident,' investigation underway

Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) detected a “cyber incident” on March 18, two months after Global Affairs Canada experienced a similar disturbance.

In a statement to CTVNews.ca, a spokesperson for the organization said “mitigation actions” were immediately taken and an investigation is underway.

“As a scientific organization, the NRC remains constantly vigilant to the risk of cyber-attacks. Procedures and controls are in place at the NRC to mitigate these risks; these procedures and controls made it possible for the organization to respond quickly to the March 18 incident,” said Christine Aquino, director general of communications.

A memo on the NRC website notes several applications have been taken offline and may be unavailable.

On Jan. 19, the same day the Global Affairs Canada breach was detected, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) issued a bulletin warning operators of critical infrastructure in Canada to be aware and take steps to mitigate Russian state-sponsored cyber threat activity.

While NRC staff haven’t specified a direct Russian link, Aquino stated the research body is working with Shared Services Canada, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the CCCS in response to the issue.

The CCCS’s list of recommendations for network defenders, includes enhancing organizational vigilance and developing a cyber incident response plan.

The U.S. and the U.K. have also issued alerts advising organizations to be watchful of Russian cyber attacks and encouraging their respective cybersecurity communities to enhance monitoring and mitigation manoeuvre.

The NRC was targeted in this manner in July 2014 by Chinese hackers, the government at the time confirmed. It prompted a complete shutdown of the council's computer network.

The NRC is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada.

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello