The federal government is unsure whether any personal information of potential military recruits was stolen during what appears to have been a hack of a defence department website.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says federal officials were investigating after people trying to get on the military's recruiting website were instead directed to what appeared to be the Chinese government's main webpage.
The website was taken down soon after the problem was discovered.
While the government is taking the incident seriously, Goodale is reluctant to label the incident as a security breach, saying there could be any number of reasons and that he didn't want to jump to conclusions.
The recruiting website is one of several operated by the Canadian Forces and provides information about the various jobs available in the military.
It also allows prospective recruits to apply online.