March 29, 2022 | Local, Aerospace
September 24, 2018 | Local, C4ISR, Security
Catharine Tunney · CBC News
Organized crime is moving online and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is struggling to keep up, according to a briefing note prepared for RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki when she took over the top job earlier this year.
The memo, obtained by CBC News under access to information law, may launch a renewed battle between the national police service and privacy advocates.
"Increasingly, criminality is conducted on the internet and investigations are international in nature, yet investigative tools and RCMP capacity have not kept pace," says the memo tucked into Lucki's briefing book.
"Growing expectations of policing responsibilities and accountability, as well as complexities of the criminal justice system, continue to overwhelm the administrative demands within policing."
In 2016 nearly 24,000 cybercrime-related cases were reported to Canadian police, up 58 per cent over 2014. The report's authors note that cybercrime tends to be under-reported.
Encryption of online data has a been a persistent thorn in the RCMP's side.
Lucki's predecessor lobbied the government for new powers to bypass digital roadblocks, including tools to get around encryption and warrantless access to internet subscriber information.
"Approximately 70 per cent of all communications intercepted by CSIS and the RCMP are now encrypted ... 80 organized crime groups were identified as using encryption in 2016 alone," says the 274-page document.
Some critics have noted that non-criminals — journalists, protesters and academics, among others — also use encryption tools online and have warned any new encryption legislation could undermine the security of financial transactions and daily online communication.
Ann Cavoukian was Ontario's privacy commissioner for three terms; she now runs Ryerson University's Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence. She called the RCMP's push for more online policing power "appalling."
"I guess we should remind them that we still live in a free and democratic society where people have privacy rights, which means that they should be in control of their personal information," she said.
"If you're a law abiding citizen, you get to decide how your information is used and to whom it's disclosed. The police have no right to access your personal information online, unless of course they have a warrant."
Lucki was specifically warned about criminal suspects "going dark," a term used to describe the gap between the lawful ability of police forces to obtain online evidence and changing technology.
She also was advised the RCMP's court-authorized arsenal (things like court orders and "computer network exploitation techniques," which cover hacking) are "rapidly declining."
"Get more efficient," said Cavoukian.
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said that "encryption is critical to safeguarding our cybersecurity, privacy and the digital economy."
"However, it has also created gaps for law enforcement and national security agencies," wrote Scott Bardsley in an email.
Earlier this year, the House of Commons' public safety and national security committee released a 76-page report that recommended "no changes to the lawful access regime for subscriber information and encrypted information be made."
But the committee didn't shelve the issue, promising instead to study the evolving challenges.
"The government will support the standing committee on national security and public safety in its continued work to study these and other emerging technological issues related to cybersecurity," wrote Bardsley.
"It will also continue to examine options to ensure agencies have the resources necessary to gain access to decrypted data required to address criminal activity."
Cavoukian predicts "a real fight" over the issue.
Bardsley says the government has pledged $116 million over five years, and $23.2 million per year after that, to help create the national cybercrime coordination unit, which would help "provide digital investigative advice and guidance to Canadian law enforcement."
The RCMP didn't meet CBC's deadline for a comment.
The briefing binder also flags the RCMP's persistent problem with replenishing its ranks when officers retire or otherwise leave the force.
"The RCMP has a growing vacancy rate that exceeds its present ability to produce regular members at a rate that keeps pace with projected future demands," it warns.
As of April 2018, there were 1,122 funded vacant regular member positions —a vacancy rate of 5.6 per cent. That's down slightly from the previous year, when the vacancy rate was 6.6 per cent.
The briefing note says that in the last five years, there has been a "dramatic" increase in the number of new recruits needed to fill operational vacancies and evolving program requirements.
About 1,280 cadets were expected to be enrolled in 2018-2019, up from 1,152 the previous year.
In 2016, CBC News reported that the RCMP was dropping its requirement that applicants be Canadian citizens, and that it would accept applications from permanent residents.
The RCMP also loosened entrance requirements to deal with a wave of retirements, low pay and the need to expand its pool of potential new officers.
Starting this month, the RCMP is dropping its requirement that applicants must be Canadian citizens. It will now accept permanent residents. Post-secondary graduates no longer will have to write an entrance exam that measures aptitude for police work and the force will no longer require a physical abilities evaluation before people submit an application.
With files from the CBC's Kathleen Harris.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lucki-briefing-binde-cybercrime-1.4831340
 
					March 29, 2022 | Local, Aerospace
 
					September 26, 2018 | Local, Aerospace
Murray Brewster · CBC News A used German drone is one of a handful of aircraft under consideration by Transport Canada for its long-delayed Arctic surveillance program. A spokeswoman for the department said no decision has been made about the kind of remotely-piloted system the department will purchase. Marie-Anyk Cote said the plan is to buy an aircraft to detect and monitor oil spills, survey ice levels and marine habitats and keep track of shipping and ice movement in Canada's far northern waters. "As part of its technical assessment, the government sought information from suppliers to better understand the technology and the solutions available," Cote said in an email. The Associated Press reported on Monday that Canada was negotiating with Germany to purchase a secondhand Global Hawk surveillance drone, which originally cost the Germans $823 million. 'Premature' Cote said "it is still premature to speculate which remotely piloted aircraft system will be purchased" and that the evaluation is still underway. In a statement issued to AP, Germany's defence ministry said talks with Canada were planned, but declined to comment on a possible sale price or closure date. The news surfaced in a response to lawmakers tabled by the German government in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. It stated that Germany has decided to "begin concrete negotiations with Canada for the sale of the Euro Hawk aircraft, two ground stations and possibly certain spare parts." Northrop Grumman, the maker of the Global Hawk, pitched the Canadian military on buying the high-altitude surveillance system a few years ago. New, the aircraft cost more than US $131 million each. National Defence has its own, separate drone program which is not expected to start delivering aircraft until 2021. That new fleet will not be fully operational until 2023. The drone under consideration by Transport Canada is a prototype that was purchased by the Germans in 2000, according the AP report. It has flown only a handful of times; the program was cancelled because of skyrocketing costs and the German government's inability to get it certified to fly in Europe. According to 2013 German media reports, the manufacturer had refused to share technical data with the German government and the drone lacked an anti-collision alarm required by European regulators. According to the German government's written response, the drone has now been "demilitarized" — meaning it has been stripped of its U.S.-made radio equipment, GPS receiver and flight control system. Drone or missile? There could be more complications ahead if Ottawa is successful in negotiations with the Germans. A year ago, CBC News reported the Arctic drone surveillance program had been delayed because of complex international arms control rules that would categorize the unmanned aircraft as a missile. The federal government approved $39.5 million for a technical assessment in 2015 — and the plan had been to have a small fleet airborne by last spring. Officials told CBC News last year that they were not expecting delivery of the drones until 2020. The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), adopted by Canada and 34 other countries, was intended to prevent the spread of weapons systems that can deliver nuclear missiles. Drones were added to the list recently and the rules restrict missiles and drones from carrying a payload of more than 500 kilograms or travelling more than 300 kilometres. A fully loaded Global Hawk can carry a sensor suite payload weighing up to 540 kilograms. With files from the Associated Press https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/transport-canada-looking-at-used-german-drone-to-patrol-arctic-1.4838364
 
					September 10, 2023 | Local, Naval, Security
Exercise CUTLASS FURY 2023, which runs between September 10 and 22, began today with a unified sailpast and flypast of participants along the waterfront in Halifax, NS.