False Tsunami Alerts, Real Cyber Threats: Ottawa Faces Scrutiny After Emergency System Exploit

OTTAWA, ON — 

August 5, 2025 — As tsunami waves strike Russia’s Pacific coast following a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake near Kamchatka, an unsettling chain of events unfolds in Canada — not from water, but from code.

While seismic waves never reach Canadian shores, thousands of residents in British Columbia receive false emergency alerts, warning of “imminent tsunami conditions” in areas far beyond projected impact zones. Within minutes, spoofed alerts begin circulating on social media — including a fake directive to evacuate the Vancouver Island interior. Panic briefly ensues.

The alerts do not originate from Environment Canada. Nor do they come from any provincial or federal agency.

They are the product of a cyber intrusion into Canada’s emergency alert distribution network, now confirmed by federal cybersecurity officials to be “external in origin and intentional in nature.”

“This was not a technical glitch,” says Public Safety Minister Valérie Lacroix in an emergency press briefing. “This was an exploit. And it happened at a moment when public trust and crisis response must be at their strongest.”

Coordinated Cyberattack Amid Global Chaos

According to early findings from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Resilience (C3R), the intrusion targets a third-party telecom aggregator that helps disseminate emergency alerts via cell towers and radio broadcasters. The breach coincides with genuine tsunami alerts issued in parts of Alaska and Japan, adding confusion to an already volatile moment.

The attacker — unnamed for now — leverages social engineering and credential phishing months earlier to gain privileged access. Once inside, they insert rogue scripts that trigger mass SMS and broadcast alerts using cloned emergency templates.

“It was timed perfectly to mimic a real crisis and escalate fear,” says C3R Director Jorge Menon. “That’s classic information warfare strategy — weaponize timing, not just data.”

Political Firestorm in Ottawa

In the House of Commons, opposition MPs demand answers. Conservative Leader Michael Dunleavy accuses the federal government of being “asleep at the switch,” calling for a full audit of all federal and provincial emergency communications systems.

Green Party leader Hailey Lang calls the incident a “democratic integrity threat,” warning of future attacks aimed at disrupting elections, not just public safety.

Even the Prime Minister faces criticism for delays in confirming the cyber component. Government sources say the initial focus was on natural disaster protocols, not hybrid attack scenarios.

Behind closed doors, there is growing concern about attribution — and whether the incident is linked to foreign cyber operations targeting NATO-aligned countries in the Pacific.

Infrastructure, Trust, and the Next Phase of Readiness

The incident reignites debate over Canada’s lagging cybersecurity modernization efforts. While Public Safety Canada has made strides in securing core infrastructure and election systems, critics argue that “soft infrastructure” — like public alerting networks and telecom middleware — remains vulnerable.

“This was a soft spot that hit hard,” says cybersecurity policy analyst Anika Routh. “And it worked — even without actual physical damage, the attackers created psychological disruption.”

Emergency Management BC confirms the spoofed alerts were deactivated within 30 minutes, and no injuries were reported. Still, officials acknowledge the credibility of future alerts has been compromised, especially if another real emergency were to strike soon.

What’s Next:

• A federal task force on cyber-resilient communications launches this week.
• The CRTC opens an investigation into telecom providers’ vulnerability disclosures.
• RCMP’s cybercrime division is coordinating with international partners on attribution.

For now, the waves have passed. But the warning signs — digital this time — are just beginning to crest.

Covering where tech meets policy and the gaps in between. — Jordan Okeke

ODTN News’ Ayaan Chowdhury contributed to this report.