Chlorine hack

Russian cybercriminals apparently managed to hack into a Quebec municipality’s water treatment plant systems and had the ability to wreak havoc on the crucial infrastructure before getting caught, according to Canada’s cyber spy agency. The Communications Security Establishment’s (CSE) latest annual report discusses how, in October 2025, Russian hacktivist group NoName had broken into the Quebec water plant’s network and gained access to many crucial systems, including the “ability to covertly control pumps, chlorine dosing, pressure settings and monitoring/alerts systems.” Which could have been catastrophic if acted upon. It was not the CSE that detected the breach, however, CSE’s Cyber Centre was notified by the Organization of American States’ cybersecurity coordination network of the claim by NoName of the breach.