Pro-Russian Hacking Group Takes Down Hydro-Québec Website

A pro-Russian hacking group identified as NoName057(16) has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack against Hydro-Québec, Quebec’s state-owned electricity provider.

The utility company confirmed that it was hit with a denial-of-service (DoS) attack at approximately 3 a.m. ET, resulting in the outage of its website, app, and Info-Panne website.

Philippe Archambault, the head of media and government affairs for Hydro-Québec, stated that no critical systems were affected and no user data was compromised. The utility’s cybersecurity team is working on restoring the service.

Hydro-Québec Website Crashes After Cyberattack

Earlier this week, several Canadian ports, including those in Montreal, had their websites taken down in a similar fashion. A DoS attack floods the target website with traffic, causing it to crash.

Hydro-Québec’s website was offline due to the cyberattack, and the utility company is working to bring it back online.

No Critical Systems Affected and No User Data Compromised

Philippe Archambault, the head of media and government affairs for Hydro-Québec, confirmed that no critical systems were affected and no user data was compromised. The cybersecurity team is working to restore the service.

Pro-Russian Hacking Group Claims Responsibility

On social media, NoName057(16), a pro-Russian hacking group, claimed responsibility for the attacks. In a post in the group’s Telegram chatroom, they stated, “We shut down the website of the company Hydro-Québec, responsible for the production and transportation of electricity in Quebec.”

The group had also claimed responsibility for recent cyberattacks that downed websites in France and Japan.

Cybersecurity Expert Suggests the Attack was Motivated by Ukraine Conflict

According to Steve Waterhouse, a cybersecurity expert and information security lecturer at the Université de Sherbrooke, the attack was likely motivated by the Ukraine conflict. Waterhouse stated that chatter in online hacking communities suggested the group was offering money to anyone who could take down a Canadian government-affiliated website because of Canada’s support for Ukraine.

He also noted that the attacks were rudimentary and not able to access protected data. “This is not a case of hacking and getting access to the information at the back end, at least not at this time, not with this type of tech,” Waterhouse said. “It’s really just to protest against Canada’s involvement with Ukraine.”