‘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.

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 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.

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 Disputed probe names suspected Anne Frank betrayer

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

A team of historians and investigative experts has identified a primary suspect in the betrayal of Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family. But others close to the story say the evidence is too weak to reach such conclusions.

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The lost nuke of British Columbia

Story by Sharon Adams

In September 1949, U.S. President Harry Truman announced the Soviet Union had detonated an atomic device. Early in the following year, U.S. air crews were practising in case they were ever called upon to bomb the Soviet Union.

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