A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the cost of safeguarding Canadian government computers could even exceed $100-million, would be spread over more than one year and is not finalized because the work is continuing and the effort required to upgrade the security system has gone beyond merely patching the immediate hole.Kacper Pempel/Reuters
There's been another hacking incident involving a Canadian government website.
This time hackers broke into the network of the tribunal that adjudicates disputes between public servants and the federal government.
The website of the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board has been down since Friday.
It's not known how long the hackers were in the system, or what – if anything – they took during the breach, which was discovered last Thursday.
An official with the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada says the board's public network has been taken offline as a precaution and officials are trying to get the site back online as soon as possible.
Meanwhile the government is saying little about another apparent breach involving classified information.
Digital hacking collective Anonymous made good late Monday on a threat to release what it says is the first of many secret documents.
An apparent Treasury Board memo about funding of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service's overseas communications capabilities was posted online.
The Canadian Press could not confirm the document's authenticity and Jeremy Laurin, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, had no immediate comment.
Earlier Monday, Laurin said officials were closely monitoring the situation.
In an accompanying video statement, Anonymous denounced the recent shooting of an Anonymous supporter in British Columbia during a confrontation with the RCMP.
The Conservatives have placed a premium on protecting federal systems from hackers who routinely attack government systems looking for state secrets.
Some attacks target weaknesses in smaller agencies in hopes of gaining access to wider federal networks.