October 28, 2022 | Local, C4ISR

Canadian Centre for Cyber Security releases National Cyber Threat Assessment 2023-2024

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) has released its National Cyber Threat Assessment 2023-2024, alerting that state sponsored and financially motivated cyber threats are increasingly likely to affect Canadians, and that foreign threat actors are attempting to influence Canadians through use of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation in online spaces.

This report outlines the most common cyber threats to Canadians and Canadian organizations, the likelihood that these cyber threats will occur and how they will evolve in the coming years.

This unclassified assessment found that ransomware is almost certainly the most disruptive form of cybercrime facing Canadians and that it remains a persistent threat to Canadian organizations. It also says critical infrastructure is increasingly at risk from cyber threat activity but, in the absence of direct international hostilities involving Canada, it is unlikely that state-sponsored actors would intentionally disrupt Canadian critical infrastructure.

The Cyber Centre has assessed that state-sponsored cyber threat activity is impacting Canadians, with state actors targeting diaspora populations and activists in Canada, Canadian organizations and their intellectual property for espionage and individuals for financial gain. We have also observed cyber threat actors' attempts to influence Canadians using misinformation, disinformation and malinformation (MDM), and we assess that Canadians' exposure to MDM will almost certainly increase over the next two years.

In addition, the assessment details that disruptive technologies, such as cryptocurrencies, machine learning and quantum computing, are bringing new opportunities for cyber threat actors and, thus, new threats to Canadians.

While threats continue to evolve, the Government of Canada has made cyber security a priority. Investments include the passage of the CSE Act, which gave the Communications Security Establishment the ability to better intercept and disrupt foreign threats. Budget 2022 has allowed $875.2 million to bolster CSE's ability to deter, defend, and prevent cyber-attacks. These investments will protect Canada, our critical infrastructure, our government systems, and our national security. New this year, the Cyber Centre has also compiled its best advice and guidance for Canadians, Canadian organizations and critical infrastructure to address the cyber security threats outlined in the assessment.

Background

This is the Cyber Centre's third National Cyber Threat Assessment. The first was published in December 2018.

In addition to publishing the National Cyber Security Assessment 2023-2024 today, the Cyber Centre has also published an updated edition of its Introduction to the Cyber Threat Environment. This introductory reference document provides baseline information about the cyber threat environment, including information about cyber threat actors and their motivations, their techniques and tools in a Canadian context.

About the Cyber Centre

Part of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the Cyber Centre is the Government of Canada's technical authority on cyber security and the single, unified source of expert advice, guidance, services and support on cyber security operational matters.

The Cyber Centre works with businesses and organizations that have been victim to a cyber incident in order to mitigate the impact of cyber security incidents.

https://www.canada.ca/en/communications-security/news/2022/10/canadian-centre-for-cyber-security-releases-national-cyber-threat-assessment-2023-20242.html

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December 24, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

Canada to deploy cargo plane part time for UN missions in new year
Murray Brewster · CBC News A Canadian military Hercules transport will soon begin once-a-week support missions for United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa, the country's top military commander said. Those flights, by a C-130J, will eventually morph to a full-fledged deployment and deliver on the second in a long list of capabilities promised over a year ago by the Liberal government at a star-studded international conference in Vancouver. Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff, refused to be pinned down to a specific date when asked in a year-end interview with CBC News. His remarks were made prior to last weekend's quick, clandestine trip by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit Canadian aircrew and personnel taking part in the UN mission in Mali. 'This hasn't been done before' The aircraft being used will split its time between supporting operations in Iraq and flying out Entebbe, Uganda, for the UN. A letter to assist, which sets out the terms of the arrangement with the UN, has yet to be finalized and Vance defended the amount of time it has taken to fulfil what was expected to be an easy promise. "This hasn't been done before," he said. "It's pretty new. This is Canada offering up a capability where there wasn't necessarily a capability before." Usually as peace support operations unfold the UN makes requests for specific military equipment and personnel. But with the medium-lift cargo plane, Vance said, Canadian planners pointed out to the UN the need for an aircraft to support operations in Africa. "There's always need for air power," he said. There has been frustration with Canada at UN headquarters in New York. After many lofty, high-profile words of political support, the Liberal government has over the last three years turned down a number of specific peacekeeping requests, including mission command posts. A copy of the 2017 list of requests for multilateral peace operations — known internally within government as the evergreen list — was obtained by CBC News under access-to-information legislation. It shows that after being spurned throughout 2016 the UN appeared to scale back what it asked of Canada to only a handful of assignments involving single soldiers or pairs of soldiers, for leadership training or advising missions. Trudeau touts Mali mission as success Over the weekend in Mali, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to extend the anticipated mid-summer end of Canada's helicopter support mission in the war-torn country. The UN requested the time to cover an anticipated gap between the current detachment and the arrival of the Romanian relief force. He declared the Mali mission to be a success and even suggested it was contributing to the peace process in that country by giving UN operations more certainty. Canada's approach of sharing its expertise and refined equipment is, Trudeau insisted, the best approach. "Part of the way Canada can best help involves coming, taking on an operation, demonstrating how it can be done in the absolute best possible way and helping others gain in those capacities," he said while answering questions from reporters on Saturday. Even still, there remains a long list of unfulfilled promises to the UN, said Walter Dorn, a professor of defence studies at the Canadian Forces College. At the Vancouver conference, the Liberal government promised to deliver a quick reaction force of 200 soldiers for a future peacekeeping mission as well as military training for other less experienced countries that contribute to operations. It also pledged to help get more women involved in peacekeeping through a measure known as the Elsie Initiative. That, Dorn said, is "inching along," with two partner countries, Ghana and Zambia, selected earlier this year, "but I haven't heard of actual progress." Vance said he is working with a three-to-five year timeline, and the initiatives promised in Vancouver were not intended to be delivered all at once. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-to-deploy-cargo-plane-part-time-for-un-missions-in-new-year-1.4958079
April 22, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

COVID-19 latest hurdle in Canada's long road to buying new fighter jets
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December 11, 2019 | Local, Naval

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