Governor General's office says internal network breached

OTTAWA -

The Office of the Secretary to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon says that there’s been an ‘unauthorized access to its internal network,’ with the scope of the breach still under investigation.

According to a statement issued Thursday morning, the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General (OSGG) is working with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security on the investigation and “took immediate action to strengthen its network.”

“The OSGG is continuing its work with experts and pursuing further network improvements as needed,” the statement said.

Ian McCowan is Simon’s secretary, coming into the role in February 2021 after being the deputy secretary to the cabinet at the Privy Council Office (PCO).

The OSGG has also spoken with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner about the breach, vowing protecting the personal information of those who work and interact with the office is “a priority.”

In a separate statement, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the Cyber Centre confirmed they are looking into the “recent cyber incident” but did not comment on any details such as the scope of the breach or when it was discovered.

“We are working closely with OSGG to ensure there are robust systems and tools in place to monitor, detect, and investigate potential threats, and to neutralize threats when they occur,” said the statement. “Cyber threats can result from system or application vulnerabilities, or from deliberate, persistent and targeted attacks by outside actors to gain access to information.”