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Canada’s secret spying stations overseas are secret no more.
On Monday, July 27, hackers who identify with Anonymous released confidential documents that detail operations carried out by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), including overseas operations and their outdated equipment.
Anonymous, a loose group of online activists from all over the world, took responsibility for the leak in a video message. They explained the action as revenge for the death of one of their members at the hands of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police earlier this month.
The documents include information about the size of CSIS’s international operations and the volume of data they process. There is also proposal to increase the spy agency’s budget to upgrade their security system abroad, “which have not been updated since the Service’s foreign collection activities began in the mid-1980s.”
CSIS cites the Deslisle case, a Russian spy who stole CSIS classified material, and US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden as reasons to enhance their preventive capabilities.
In contrast with a 2011 estimate of the upgrade, the leak shows CSIS seeks an additional US$20.6 million to bolster security.
Moreover, while the Canadian government only officially acknowledges three foreign CSIS stations, the leaked document reveals there are 25 overseas offices across the world. These process “22,500 messages per year,” the leaked document says, “and this figure does not include the high volume of extremely sensitive traffic from the Washington station.”
The Stephen Harper administration has neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of Anonymous’s claims.
On Monday, Jeremy Laurin, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steve Blaney, briefly said the government does not comment on leaked documents, but that officials “continue to monitor this situation closely.”
Anonymous claims this is just one of many documents they acquired during breaches of CSIS’s supposedly secure computers over the past months.
The leak comes after a Canadian police officer killed James McIntyre during a shoot out in Dawson Creek on July 16. Anonymous set Monday as a deadline for Canadian authorities to “name, fire, and charge” the officer and released the document when they saw no response.
Until there is an arrest of the officer culpable, “We will be releasing stunning secrets at irregular intervals,” Anonymous threatened.
Source: National Post.
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