B.C. cybersecurity incident prompts testy exchange in QP

B.C.’s political opponents sparred in question period Thursday morning, a day after the province announced it had identified “sophisticated cybersecurity incidents” involving its networks.

Few details have been shared about what exactly happened. However, in a statement Wednesday, Premier David Eby said both the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner have been informed, and that the incidents are being investigated.

In QP the following day, BC United MLA Todd Stone slammed the government, saying it “concealed a massive cyberattack on the provincial government for eight days.”

“British Columbians are rightly worried about their sensitive information, wondering if their information has been compromised by a foreign, state-sponsored cyberattack. So the question to the premier is this: Will the premier say today who was responsible for this attack?” he asked.

Stone notes the timing of Eby’s statement Wednesday, saying it was issued quietly “while everyone was busy watching last night’s Canucks game.”

“How much sensitive personal information was compromised and why would the premier wait eight days to issue a quiet statement during a Canucks game to disclose this very serious breach to British Columbians?” the Opposition MLA continued.

However, Eby has said there was no evidence to suggest sensitive information was compromised.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth shot back at BC United’s comments, accusing Stone of “playing politics.”

“We take our advice from the Canadian Cyber Security Service, who deal with these kinds of things on an ongoing basis. That’s who we will take the advice from in terms of protecting public information, every single time. We will never take advise from the opposition — all they ever want to do is play politics,” Farnworth said, his comments being drowned out by shouts in the House.

Throughout the exchange, Speaker Raj Chouhan was forced to quiet MLAs down.

“When an incident like this happens, the first thing that happens is the protection of the system, honourable speaker. The protection of the information that’s done by technical experts, honourable speaker, who work on the advice of the Canadian Cyber Security System,” Farnworth explained. “And, honourable speaker, the reason they do that is because if you go out and give information before that’s done, you actually end up compromising people’s information, potentially.”

The public safety minister doubled down that there is “no evidence that there was any compromising of sensitive information.”

Eby said Wednesday it is the government’s priority to keep data and networks safe.

“I want to assure British Columbians that the protection of data and networks is a top priority for our government. Cybersecurity threats are a constant reality of the modern world and continue to grow in seriousness,” he said.

“I know the public will have many questions about these incidents, and we will be as transparent as we can without compromising the investigation.”

Farnworth is expected to address the media at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, when he’s expected to face several questions about the cyber incident.