Apparent leaked U.S. docs suggest pro-Russian hackers got at Canada's gas network. Is cybersecurity an issue? | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Business

Apparent leaked U.S. docs suggest pro-Russian hackers got at Canada’s gas network. Is cybersecurity an issue?

Published

 on

Cybersecurity experts aren’t surprised by the revelation contained within a package of leaked U.S. intelligence documents suggesting Russian-backed hackers successfully gained access to Canada’s natural gas distribution network.

But they said there’s a huge difference between gaining access to a company’s network or servers and actually disrupting Canada’s energy supply or causing injury or property damage.

“There’s a big disconnect between gaining access to a computer, in the industrial world, and knowing how to make it do physical things,” said Lesley Carhart, director of incident response for North America at the industrial cybersecurity company Dragos Inc.

“Criminal groups gain access to industrial facilities all the time. But just hitting buttons isn’t necessarily going to cause anything meaningful to happen.”

An apparent release of Pentagon documents onto social media sites recently appeared not only to detail U.S. and NATO operations in Ukraine, but also contained a claim by Russian-backed hackers that they successfully accessed Canada’s natural gas infrastructure.

The leaked documents don’t name a specific company. CBC News and The Canadian Press have not independently verified the claims. Two companies — TC Energy and Enbridge — told CBC their infrastructure was not compromised by a hacking attempt.

WATCH | White House bracing for more documents to be leaked

 

White House bracing for more documents to be leaked

6 hours ago

Duration 1:02

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says some of the leaked documents have been doctored but that it is not clear who leaked them, what the motive was or if there are more to come.

But the news has thrust the issue of cybersecurity in North America’s oil and gas sector back into the spotlight.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE), which oversees Canadian foreign intelligence gathering and cybersecurity, said in a statement it does not comment on specific incidents. But it added it was “concerned about the opportunities for critical infrastructure disruption” on internet-connected technology “that underpins industrial processes.”

According to Geoffrey Cann, a B.C.-based author and speaker who specializes in digital issues affecting the oil and gas industry, Canada’s energy sector is routinely targeted by cybercriminals for financial gain as well as by state-sponsored hackers hoping to create mayhem.

“It would be a shock if they weren’t targeting Canadian infrastructure, because they’re targeting energy infrastructure worldwide as a matter of routine,” he said.

“And industry is highly aware of this. This is a board-level topic.”

In 2021, a ransomware attack successfully targeted the Colonial Pipeline, the largest pipeline system for refined oil products in the U.S. It was the largest cyberattack on oil infrastructure in the history of the United States, and forced the company to temporarily halt pipeline operations.

Carhart said the idea that state-sanctioned actors are also attempting to gain entry into oil and gas companies’ systems for the purpose of corporate espionage, sabotage or terrorism is not a secret.

But she pointed out that industrial sites have layers upon layers of safety protocols and equipment in place, and just gaining access to a computer server isn’t necessarily enough to really cause an impact.

“Industrial facilities are made to be very safe. They’re made to survive human error, and devices failing.”

She said it could take years for a cyber criminal to learn enough about a company’s internal processes and equipment to actually cause an incident.

“Yes, there are states with resources spending a lot of time and money to learn about these facilities so they can do something in the future. But does just getting access to these facilities mean they can? No.”

Cann agreed that while oil and gas companies themselves should be concerned about the financial and operational risk of a cyberattack, the risk a hacker could significantly disrupt energy supply for Canadians for any significant period of time remains extremely low.

“For a hack to be successful in Canada, it would have to bring down enormous amounts of our infrastructure at the same time. And that’s possible, but the probability is infinitesimally small,” Cann said.

“Oil and gas infrastructure is being attacked constantly, and yet there are very few public incidents that we hear of, so we have that in our favour.”

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Japan’s SoftBank returns to profit after gains at Vision Fund and other investments

Published

 on

 

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.

Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.

Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).

SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.

The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.

WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.

SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.

SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.

SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.

The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.

___

Yuri Kageyama is on X:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Trump campaign promises unlikely to harm entrepreneurship: Shopify CFO

Published

 on

 

Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.

“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.

“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”

Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.

On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.

If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.

These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.

If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.

However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.

He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.

“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.

Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.

The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.

Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.

Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.

Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.

Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.

Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”

In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.

“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

RioCan cuts nearly 10 per cent staff in efficiency push as condo market slows

Published

 on

 

TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.

The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.

The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.

RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.

The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.

RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version