China, Russia ‘Primary Culprits’ in Conducting Espionage and Foreign Interference in Canada: Parliamentary Report
COVID-19 research among top targets for espionage operations
China and Russia continue to be the “primary culprits” when it comes to espionage and foreign interference that threaten Canada’s sovereignty, a committee that oversees national security and intelligence activities says in its annual report.
“The threat from espionage and foreign interference is significant and continues to grow. Several states are responsible for conducting such activities in Canada, but intelligence shows that China and Russia remain the primary culprits,” reads the report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
Pandemic is fuelling foreign espionage in Canada, says security committee
The pandemic is driving some foreign states to ramp up their espionage efforts against Canadian targets including companies engaged in vaccine development says a new report from one of Canada s key national security oversight committees.
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Two days before Superbowl LV in Tampa in early February, someone hacked into a water treatment plant in nearby Pinellas County and tried to poison Florida’s water supply. The unknown attacker used a password to break into the remote access software platform that controls the plant and adjusted the level of sodium hydroxide to more than 100 times normal levels – an act that would have had catastrophic consequences had a sharp-eyed operator not spotted the move and re-adjusted the chemical levels.
American investigators were contacted by Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, which has experience with water facility attacks, after a similar incident in 2020 that the NCD’s director said was “a changing point in the history of cyber warfare.” He noted that the attack against Israel was not accompanied by a ransom demand, suggesting it was not the work of cyber-criminals.