Hackers Claiming Allegiance To India Target Website Of Canadian Armed Forces

Amid the ongoing political tensions between India and Canada, hackers claiming allegiance to India carried out a cyberattack on the website of the Canadian armed forces earlier this week.

As per various media reports, the hackers, who call themselves Indian Cyber Force, claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Telegram and Twitter (now X)

As per The Telegraph, the group said on Telegram that it had “taken down” the www.forces.ca website. Operators of the channel reportedly shared a screenshot showing an error page with the message: “#f—canada”.

The hackers posted last week, “Get ready to feel the power of IndianCyberForce attacks will be launching on Canada cyber space… it’s for the mess you started”. Following that, the Canadian government’s cyber authority issued a warning to IT administrators to watch for attacks.

The political tussle between India and Canada started last week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country was looking into “credible allegations potentially linking” the Indian government to the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a Canadian province.

India called the allegations “absurd and motivated” and also expelled a Canadian diplomat after a similar step by the North American country. India has also temporarily suspended visa services in Canada.

Earlier this week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India told Canada, in response to its allegations about the killing of Nijjar, that it is not the policy of the Indian government. Saying India has sought “relevant” information from Canada, Jaishankar also highlighted that Canada has seen a lot of crime relating to secessionist forces as well as organised crime over the last few years.

Meanwhile, the political tensions between the two countries have also resulted in the domestic equity markets coming under some pressure, as Canadian pension funds hold crores of rupees of investments in sectors like banking, energy, and IT.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is also a major investor in the startup ecosystem, counting the likes of Nykaa, Zomato, Delhivery, ACKO, VerSe Innovation in its portfolio.

While most analysts believe that the deterioration in relations between India and Canada would not have a major impact on the Indian stock markets for now, further escalations can bring the domestic equity markets under pressure.