Canada passes new anti-terrorism law called Bill C-51, Anonymous launch a OpCyberProtest and bring down major Canadian government websites
The online hacktivist group, Anonymous has brought down several Canadian government website and servers in a an orchestrated cyber attack against Canada’s new anti-terrorism law.
The Canadian arm of Anonymous, Anonymous Canada, took to Twitter to announce the attacks around 12 hours ago.
The games have just begun #cdnpoli#TangoDown
canada.cahttps://t.co/qNtFK3GFYh
sencanada.cahttps://t.co/H1gHFnsPn6#StopC51 #RejectFear— Op Cyber Privacy (@OpCyberPrivacy) June 17, 2015
The primary website for government services, Canada.ca, as well as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) website, were among those affected. The Canadian government sources said the attack also disrupted email, Internet access and servers.
Canadian cabinet minister Tony Clement who heads the Canadian Treasury Board, publically confirmed the attack on Twitter.
Confirmed today that Govt of Canada GC servers have been cyberattacked. Until full service is restored please use 1-800-OCanada.
— Tony Clement (@TonyclementCPC) June 17, 2015
In a video posted on YouTube by @OpCyberProtest, the Anonymous said the Canadian law violated human rights and targeted people who disagree with the government. It is also organising protests against the law.
The Bill C-51 which is also called Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, would broaden the mandate of the CSIS, giving the agency new powers to disrupt perceived security threats. The legislation, once enacted by the government, would also make it easier for federal agencies to increase surveillance and share information about individuals.
The Anonymous who consider themselves the flagbearers of online freedom of speech and privacy have taken umbrage against the vast powers that the Canadian snooping agency, CSIS gets under this bill. They have asked online users to protest over the enactment of this law through a Pastebin paste.
Anonymous had released a video in January, much before the law was being debated, warning Canadian citizens of the privacy and security issues with the C-51
https://youtu.be/krmCViA9oKY?t=51
