Liberal and Tory MPs claim Parliamentarians have been kept in the dark about targeting by Beijing-linked hackers

Liberal and Conservative MPs are speaking out, claiming that the government failed to alert a group of 18 parliamentarians critical of Beijing about being targeted by hackers affiliated with the Chinese regime.

The MPs’ statement correlates to an IPAC announcement made on the same day confirming that 18 MPs and senators were targeted in 2021 by APT31, a group of Chinese state-sponsored hackers.

According to IPAC, the parliamentarians were unaware of the attack despite the Canadian government’s awareness in 2022.

Messrs. McKay and Genuis identified the incident as a “reconnaissance cyberattack” carried out by a state-controlled entity of the People’s Republic of China. They disclosed that the FBI alerted IPAC of the attack, prompting immediate notification to Canadian lawmakers.

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“As per information provided by the FBI to IPAC, legislators outside the U.S. weren’t directly informed when the attack was initially detected due to sovereignty concerns. However, the FBI notified authorities in other countries,” the MPs explained.

FBI counterparts in Canada, such as the RCMP and CSIS, did not respond to requests for comment by the publication deadline.

Public Safety Canada, overseeing the RCMP and CSIS, declined to comment and deferred inquiries to the agencies. A spokesperson mentioned, “Public Safety Canada is not an investigative agency and does not engage in criminal investigations operationally,” as spokesperson Tim Warmington stated.

The Epoch Time attempts to get feedback from the Communications Security Establishment, responsible for countering cyber threats, went unanswered.

The group faced allegations of conspiring to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud, spanning approximately 14 years and targeting critics of Beijing domestically and internationally, along with political and business figures.

The DOJ claimed that APT31 operated within a Chinese espionage program supervised by the Ministry of State Security’s Hubei branch.

According to the DOJ, APT31 sent malicious tracking-link emails to IPAC members around 2021, targeting every EU member of IPAC and 43 UK parliamentary accounts.

The DOJ implicated such activities and others in the U.S. as contributing to substantial financial losses annually, transferring U.S. technology to China through state-sponsored operations.

Messrs. McKay and Genuis urged the government to notify legislators of any attacks or potential threats in the future and requested sanctions against the perpetrators.

The failure of the federal government to warn MPs about targeting efforts or interference by the Chinese regime had surfaced frequently over the past year.

Media leaks divulging intelligence on this topic prompted the Liberal government to conduct a public inquiry into foreign interference.

These leaks pushed senior officials, including the prime minister, to admit they were unaware of Chinese intelligence targeting MPs like Conservative Michael Chong.

Mr. Chong and other Canadian political figures testified during a recent round of public hearings for the foreign interference commission earlier this month.