Canadian federal police said Friday that their networks had been attacked by a “alarming” cyberattack, but there was no impact on operations and no known threat to Canadians’ safety.
“The situation is evolving quickly but at this time, there is no impact on RCMP operations and no known threat to the safety and security of Canadians,” a spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told reporters on Friday afternoon.
“While a breach of this magnitude is alarming, the quick work and mitigation strategies put in place demonstrate the significant steps the RCMP has taken to detect and prevent these types of threats,” the spokesperson added.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they initiated an investigation into the incident and were attempting to ascertain the scope of the breach, adding that there were no known implications for intelligence agencies. Global Affairs Canada said at the time it had activated an unplanned IT outage on Jan. 24 to “address the discovery of malicious cyber activity.”
The Canadian government announced late last month that its foreign affairs department had experienced a data breach, which resulted in illegal access to people’ personal information, including workers.
