Russia, Iran and especially China are “bolder and more aggressive” than ever in their cyberattacks against Canada, according to a new federal report that cites India as a threat to our cybersecurity for the first time.
China remains, by far, the greatest risk to Canada, as its cyberattack capabilities are “unmatched,” according to the Canadian Center for Cyber Security.
“The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) vast and vigorous cyber activity program represents the most active and sophisticated cyber threat to Canada today,” say government experts.
Theft of knowledge
Ottawa admits that China managed to steal “commercially sensitive data from companies” and “Canadian institutions”.
At least twenty networks of the federal government and its agencies have been compromised by Chinese cyberattacks over the past four years.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, the head of the Telecommunications Security Center (CST), Caroline Xavier, did not want to give details on the nature of the data that would have been compromised.
China targets all levels of government, from municipal to federal. This includes provinces and territories, which “have decision-making authority over regional trade, including resource extraction (e.g., energy and critical minerals).”
Civil servants are particularly targeted, their communications scrutinized in order to extract confidential information. Xi Jinping’s government would not hesitate to use external resources to achieve its ends.
India, new adversary
India is identified for the first time as an “adversary” state, ready to disrupt Canada by building a modern “cyberactivity” program intended for espionage.
Narenda Modi’s country would act in this way to “advance its objectives linked to national security” and to “enhance its global status [en contrant] unfavorable messages about the country and its government.
It is estimated that the degraded relations between India and Canada will increase the intensity of cyber espionage carried out here by the Indian government.
A peak after October 7
The Canadian Center for Cyber Security reports a spike in cyberattacks against Western countries from Iran in the months following the surprise attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Canada is “probably not” a “priority” target of the Iranian regime, recognizes Ottawa. However, “Iran most likely used the crash of Flight 752 in Tehran as a decoy in its psychological hacking and spear phishing operations” against Iranian residents on Canadian soil, it is said.
For its part, Russia’s efforts are mainly focused on mass disinformation campaigns to establish its position in the world and undermine the confidence of Western citizens in their democratic institutions.
