Canada To See Cyber Intrusion In Political Process, But Lower-Priority Target - CSE

Canada will experience some cyber interference in its political affairs, but the country remains a "low-priority target" for foreign actors, country's communications intelligence service said on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2021) Canada will experience some cyber interference in its political affairs, but the country remains a "low-priority target" for foreign actors, country's communications intelligence service said on Friday.

"Canada remains a lower-priority target for cyber threat activity targeting its democratic process relative to some other countries. However, we judge it very likely that Canadian voters will encounter some form of foreign cyber interference ahead of, and during, the next Federal election," the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said in a report.

The "Cyber Threats to Canada's Democratic Process" report underscored that Canada is unlikely to see incursions on the scale allegedly seen in south of the border. US authorities continue to maintain that Russia, as well as China and Iran are waging cyber campaigns with the goal of undermining its political system.

While the CSE did not mention specific threats to Canada from foreign adversaries, the report noted that since 2015, Russia, China and Iran were responsible for 90 percent of malign cyber activity against "democratic processes" world-wide.

According to the biennial document, malign cyber activity is used to target voters, political parties and elections through online disinformation, misinformation and cyberattacks, exploiting an increasingly digitalized political environment.

While the CSE believes Canada is not a top priority for cyber actors, the agency warns Canadians' interconnectedness with US social media sphere - 57 percent of Twitter accounts Canadians follow are US-based - leaves them vulnerable to cyber activity targeting Americans and their political system.

The CSE report comes ahead of, what most Canadian experts agree is, a federal election later in the year.