Trudeau links support for Ukraine to Russian cyberattacks on Canada – National | Globalnews.ca

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canada’s stance on Ukraine is “bothersome” to the Russian government and pro-Russian hackers, but cyberattacks on Canadian websites and critical infrastructure providers won’t change the federal government’s support.

“Obviously, Canada’s unequivocally strong stance in support of Ukraine and against Russia’s illegal actions is bothersome to the Russian government and to pro-Russian hackers,” Trudeau told reporters.

“We are not going to flinch in any way on our steadfast and total support of Ukraine and the cause for which it’s fighting…. Ukrainians right now are fighting for the fundamentals of democracy, for the UN Charter, for the principles and values that underpin our country and so many others.

“A couple of denial of service attacks on government websites, bringing them down for a few hours is not going to cause us to rethink our unequivocal stance of doing whatever it takes for as long as it takes to support Ukraine.”

A cyberattack on Hydro-Québec knocked out its website and mobile app Thursday.

Hydro-Québec says it was targeted at around 3 a.m. Eastern by a denial-of-service assault — when attackers flood an internet server with traffic and overwhelm it.

The utility says the attack has shut down its website and cellphone application but says its critical systems are not affected.

It also says there was no data breach and personal data was not compromised.

Pro-Russian groups have claimed responsibility for recent cyberattacks, including on Trudeau’s website and the websites for the Port of Québec and Laurentian Bank.

On Tuesday, Trudeau said “no physical damage was done” to Canadian energy infrastructure that leaked U.S. intelligence suggests was accessed by Russian hackers.

— with files from The Canadian Press and Aaron D’Andrea.

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