Anonymous CSIS document leak probed by RCMP, CSE

• Anonymous: what is it and how serious are its threats?
• Masked man killed by police refused to throw away weapon, witness claims

Cybercrime investigators with the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) are looking into how the onlineinternational activist groupAnonymous obtained the classified document and then leaked it to the media.

The probe comes after the National Post on Tuesday published a Treasury Board document supplied by Anonymous that revealsCSIS operates 25 foreign stations around the globe.

EtienneRainville, a spokesman for the public safety minister, said little about the apparent breach or the document's authenticity.

"We do not comment on leaked documents and we continue to monitor this situation closely," he said in anemail.

Anonymous demandsaction

In an accompanying video,Anonymous is threatening to release more sensitive government documents unless police in British Columbia do more to investigate the fatal RCMP shooting of Anonymous activist James McIntyre earlier this month in Dawson Creek.

• Anonymous vows to avengeRCMPDawson Creek shooting

Police at the time said the 48-year-old approached them in an aggressive manner and ignored commands from officers outside a public hearingfor a dam project proposed by BC Hydro. A witness said he was also displaying a knife. At the time he was shot, McIntyre, a dishwasher, waswearing a maskan Anonymous trademark.

The shadowy, loosely knit collective is demanding the immediatearrest of theRCMPofficers involved.

"Unless and until that happens, we will be releasing stunningsecrets at irregular intervals," the group said.

The video harshly criticizes the Harper government, police,security agencies and corporations, saying they have branded"anyone opposing their fossil-fuel agenda to be a terrorist."

Anonymous also denounces "covert, warrantless surveillance" and thegovernment's recently passed omnibus security bill, known asC-51.

"Anonymous has been collecting bits of evidence and making plansfor many months," the video says.

Tuesday's leakis unusual, says McGill University professor Gabriella Coleman, because it melds two of the hacktivist group's tactics public shaming for a police incident and releasing documents.

She says she referred a member of the group to The National Post, the newspaper that reported on the leaked document.

"They already had that leak, that information and they were planning on at some point releasing it," says Coleman, who isthe author ofHacker HoaxerWhistleblowerSpy:The Many Faces of Anonymous.

"But with the shooting in Dawson Creek,it kind of accelerated that process and they decided to use the document and the leak in a way to kind of register protest against theshooting."

'You left many doors open for us'

The group seems to have selected the initial document for postingbecause if genuine it shows federal ministers made decisionsover at least a four-year period to update security systemsdomestically and internationally.

"Congratulations, you left many doors open for us," the groupsays. "We are now privy to many of Stephen Harper's cherishedsecrets."

Coleman, however, believes the threat from this alleged leak is not very significant.

"The information that there are foreign stations in more locationsthan was earlier revealed is not so much of a threat,"she says."In some ways it just confirmswhat people likely knew and confirms the fact that there are these kinds of secrets held by the government, and now we have a little window into theCanadian reach and presence of intelligence services."

Anonymous has also claimed responsibility for a June attack that shutdown several federal websites and wreaked havoc with email,billing itas a protest against the federal security legislation that broadenedCSIS's mandate, boosted information-sharing and expanded no-fly listpowers.

No personal information was compromised during the cyberattack,Public Safety Minister StevenBlaney said at the time.

Last week, Blaney's department announced $142 million in newdigital security spending, which will fund initiatives including anRCMP investigative team to combat high-priority cybercrime.

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