NRC’s IT system suffers cyber attack

Ottawa, ON – The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has suffered a cyber attack on its IT infrastructure, and the organization says it might take up to a year to create a new secure infrastructure.

In a related statement, the federal government’s chief information officer said the intrusion was undertaken by a “highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor.”

Both statements confirmed the attack had taken place, and said that the security breach had been addressed and contained. The NRC said its information holdings were protected, and it is notifying its clients and stakeholders about the situation.

“We understand that this incident will affect ongoing business operations and every step is being taken to minimize its impact on our clients and stakeholders. Due to security and confidentiality reasons, further details cannot be released at this time. An update on this situation is planned for July 31, 2014,” the NRC statement concludes.

The federal government’s chief information officer statement added that while the NRC’s networks do not currently operate within the broader government of Canada network, since the detection and confirmation of the cyber intrusion, the NRC’s networks have also been isolated from the broader federal government network as a precautionary measure.