Amid concerns raised by MPs they weren’t warned about a Chinese hack against them, the House of Commons administration says it had effectively prevented the cyberattack.
The House of Commons Administration “determined that the risk-mitigation measures in place had successfully prevented any attack,” spokesperson Mathieu Gravel told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Gravel said the administration investigates all incidents flagged by its security partners. “There were no cybersecurity impacts to any Members or their communications,” he added.
Liberal and Conservative MPs revealed on April 29 that they had been the target of a Chinese hacker group referred to as Advanced Persistent Threat 31 (APT31), which is backed by Chinese intelligence.
The attack was reportedly aimed at parliamentarians who are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), comprised of cross-party legislators from around the world seeking to change how democratic countries deal with Beijing. There are currently 18 Canadian parliamentarians who are members of IPAC.
The Communications Security Establishment (CSE), Canada’s electronic spying agency, told The Epoch Times it passed the information about the hack to parliamentary officials shortly after receiving it in June 2022.
“Once the FBI report was received by Canada’s security agencies, the information that included the names of the targeted parliamentarians was shared immediately,” said CSE spokesperson Ryan Foreman. He added what was passed was “actionable technical information.”
CSE says this was part of a regular engagement with House of Commons and Senate officials on a “range of cyber threats.”
“In this case, the House of Commons briefed and informed MPs with a general message,” said Janny Bender Asselin, another CSE spokesperson.
When presented with this information, Mr. Gravel did not confirm MPs had been briefed on the specific issue.
“The House of Commons cybersecurity team continuously monitors malicious activity and conducts ongoing awareness campaigns to disseminate information and share best practices, including cyber-risk mitigation strategies with Members of Parliament,” said Mr. Gravel.
He added that the Commons cybersecurity team works directly with MPs when they’re affected by cyber threats.
Tory MP Stephanie Kusie, one of the 18 parliamentarians part of IPAC, told The Epoch Times in an interview she was never personally contacted about the issue. “There was a blanket advisory that went out, but nothing as to this specific threat,” she said.
MPs not being warned by the government about Chinese regime threats against them has become a sort of trend in Canada.
Tory MP Michael Chong was unaware he was a target of Chinese intelligence when the Globe and Mail published an intelligence leak on the matter in May 2023. Senior ministers claimed they were also unaware of the issue.
Since then, a public inquiry into foreign interference has been launched. Hearings this month revealed that on many occasions, politicians and parties were not warned as the federal government detected foreign interference attempts in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
