Cyberattack paralyzes Hydro-Québec website and app, pro-Russian group claims responsibility

MONTREAL – The website and application of Hydro-Québec remained inaccessible around 8:30 Thursday morning due to a cyberattack.

The spokesman for Hydro-Québec, Francis Labbé, however, confirmed the restoration of the service Info-Pannes, which had also been paralyzed by the computer attack that could be observed a few hours earlier, around 3:00 a.m.

Any attempt to access the address www.hydroquebec.com resulted in a page indicating that the site is inaccessible.

Francis Labbé confirmed to The Canadian Press that the company’s critical systems had not been affected. The data and personal information were therefore protected, he assured.

However, no timeframe for the restoration of the website and the application had been announced early Thursday morning.

The representative of the state-owned company added that he was not yet able to speculate on the identity of individuals or a group responsible for the cyberattack.

In recent days, a few Canadian organizations have been targeted by cyber attacks claimed by pro-Russian groups. After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s website on Tuesday, the websites of the Port of Quebec, the Laurentian Bank and the Prevost bus company were blocked by hackers.

Pro-Russian group NoName057 (16) posted online taking responsibility for the Hydro-Quebec cyberattack – although the Crown corporation has not confirmed they are behind it.

On Wednesday afternoon, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante reported that the Port of Montreal had been affected.

Francis Labbé reported that a team of about 300 people was working for the Crown corporation to prevent cyber attacks as much as possible and to counter them when they occur.

Experts warn groups like this are out there

“I think that the world right now is seeing more and more cyber-related incidents that are disrupting our day-to-day lives,” said cyber security expert Ritesh Kotak.

“Clearly these types of groups are out there, they’re hactivist organizations, they’re looking to disrupt operations. This is not the first time we’ve seen it. But we still need to verify that this is the group. Just claiming that they are responsible doesn’t mean that they did it.”

How can you keep yourself safe?

“Don’t recycle credentials. Make sure that you use different passwords for different sites. You can even use different email addresses. It’s free to create an email address, so feel free to use different ones. Enable multi-factor authentication and monitor your accounts on a daily basis. So if something does happen you’re able to flag it and remedy the situation. Because putting the toothpaste back in the tube is not possible.”