Royal Canadian Mounted Police targeted in ‘alarming’ cyberattack

(NEW YORK) — Canada’s national police force was hit with a cyberattack Friday that was of “alarming” magnitude, according to the agency.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is now launching a criminal investigation into what happened and how their systems were able to be breached, the agency said in a statement to ABC News.

There is no known impact to safety and security operations, RCMP says.

“While a breach of this magnitude is alarming, the quick work and mitigation strategies put in place demonstrates the significant steps the RCMP has taken to detect and prevent these types of threats,” according to the statement.

The RCMP says it is working with other Canadian government partners to continue “assessing the breadth and scope of the security breach and hold those responsible accountable.”

The news comes as experts warn of the dangers of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and government operations. The Canadian government’s global affairs office was targeted in a prolonged security breach last month due to “malicious” cyber activity that impacted internal data from the agency’s staff, according to the CBC.

The U.S. Justice Department also said last month it had successfully disrupted an effort by Chinese government-sponsored hackers to target critical U.S. infrastructure networks using malware.