The federal government has unveiled their strategy to boost Canada’s cybersecurity and defend against threats from malicious foreign governments or non-state criminal organizations.
The announcement of the “National Cyber Security Strategy” comes shortly after the release of the federal government’s bi-annual National Cyber Threat Assessment showing that Canadian citizens and businesses are facing growing cybersecurity threats.
The cybersecurity strategy lays out the Trudeau government’s plan to cooperate with law enforcement, academia, civil society, and other levels of government in order to combat emerging threats in Canada’s cyber landscape.
To make Canada a “global leader” in the cyber security industry, the government plans on creating an education pipeline for cyber security professionals, raising privacy regulations on businesses, and regulations for artificial intelligence development.
The government also claims that it will collaborate with the energy industry to strengthen cybersecurity around key infrastructure.
“We had been working with our private sector partners and others in Canada for some time to develop the strategy,” said Public Safety Minister David McGuinty in a press conference.
Despite listing several priorities and objectives for the government to achieve, the National Cyber Security Strategy does not provide any specifics about what steps the government will take to achieve their objectives.
The cybersecurity strategy seeks to address many of the concerns brought up in the National Cyber Threat Assessment.
The threat assessment found that Canada faces significant cybersecurity threats from state actors, non-state cyber-criminals, and the development of artificial intelligence.
The assessment lists China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and India as potential threats, with China being named the most significant threat of them all.
The report also pointed to the growth of cybercrime-as-a-service available for cybercriminals to purchase, varying from malware-as-a-service, ransomware-as-a-service, phishing-as-a-service, and more.
The recently released final report from the foreign interference commission found that foreign adversaries are using cyber tools to interfere in Canada’s democratic processes, specifically China, Russia, and Pakistan.
The Hogue report asserted that the Chinese government uses their cyber tools to interfere in Canadian elections while Russia uses their tools to spread misinformation beneficial to Russia’s interests. The cybersecurity strategy only mentions foreign interference in passing.
According to the threat assessment, Canadians lost $567 million from fraud and scams in 2023, up from $383 million in 2021.
The cybercrime strategy is being backed by the government with $37.8 million over six years.
