14 DAY TRIAL // Hackers have managed to access sensitive Canadian government information after hacking into the computer networks of the Finance Department and the Treasury Board.
The security breaches were uncovered in January and Internet access was immediately shut down across the two departments to prevent more data from leaking out.
The government played down the seriousness of the attacks by describing them as mere attempts to access federal networks.
However, according to CBC News, sources familiar with the incidents claim they were much more serious with investigators still trying to determine what was stolen and by whom.
There is evidence the attacks originated in China, but this is not a clear indication that the hackers are also based there.
The point of entry was a social engineering technique known as spear phishing, a method commonly used to hack into corporate networks.
First, the attackers performed intelligence gathering to determine which people occupy executive positions within those institutions and find out their email addresses.
They then sent fake emails that tricked them into installing malware on their computers. Once attackers had control over the systems, they were also able to misuse the email accounts of their victims.
This ability was used to send fake memos to employees with malicious attachments posing as documents. With every new infected computer, the hackers were able to penetrate deeper into the networks and eventually steal passwords to the data systems.
The Internet service is slowly being restored, but according to the sources, the government is trying to keep the public knowledge about the incidents to a minimum.
The description of the security breaches is similar to that of attacks targeting other governments as well. The UK foreign secretary, William Hague, recently announced that in January, three members of his staff received spear phishing emails.
Last year, a now retired UK Ministry of Defence high-ranking official was targeted in a similar manner by a foreign intelligence agency.