An item from the Legion Magazine.

‘Cyber Partisans’ hack Russian military buildup in a resistance first

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

In a 21st century twist on an old wartime theme, hacktivists in Belarus penetrated the state-run railway’s computer network and threatened to paralyze trains moving Russian troops and equipment bound for a potential invasion of Ukraine.

The group Belarusian Cyber Partisans said on Jan. 24 it had encrypted servers, databases and workstations, disrupting ticket sales and stalling freight trains. It destroyed some backup systems and encrypted others. It threatened further action if its demands were not met.

The New Brunswick bridge bombing

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

“We are not quite the end of the earth, but it is visible occasionally,” says the website for Vanceboro, Me.

Its residents might have thought it was the end of the Earth when an explosion rocked the town in the middle of the night on Feb. 2, 1915.

Today Vanceboro is a small town on the St. Croix River, the border between Maine and New Brunswick. A century ago, it was bustling, on the main Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) link between Saint John, N.B., and Montreal.