Critical cyberattacks are an ‘hourly’ event. How can Canadians protect themselves?
Global News
Canada's cybersecurity agency is warning that Russian-aligned hackers may seek to disrupt Canada's oil and natural gas sector and other critical infrastructure.
Canada’s government is facing cyberattacks by hostile foreign actors “hourly” as attacks on private businesses increase, the head of Canada’s cybersecurity agency says, highlighting the importance of critical industries and Canadians to educate and protect themselves.
Sami Khoury of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security — part of the Canadian Security Establishment (CSE) intelligence agency — says efforts are ongoing to put those protections in place and partner with corporations to act in kind. But he warns Russia and Russian-aligned hackers in particular are also ramping up efforts to disrupt critical infrastructure.
“On an average day we block between five and six billion signals coming against the government,” Khoudry told Mercedes Stephenson in a rare interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.
“These are automated systems that are looking for vulnerabilities. Having said that, we hear about incidents in the private sector constantly.”
The warning comes after the CSE issued a threat assessment last week that Russian-aligned hackers may seek to disrupt Canada’s oil and natural gas sector, especially since Ottawa is a strong backer of Ukraine.
The assessment said Russia had repeatedly deployed destructive cyberattacks against its adversaries as geopolitical crises escalate and expect those attacks to continue. It warned not only that Canada’s oil and gas infrastructure presents a number of vulnerable targets, but could also be impacted by an attack on U.S. assets “due to cross-border integration.”
“We assess that the intent of this activity is very likely to disrupt critical services for psychological impact, ultimately to weaken Canadian support for Ukraine,” it said.
The CSE has briefed energy company CEOs on the threat and provided guidance on strengthening protections, the agency said.