$500M invested to battle cyber crime
The government will spend more than half a billion dollars over the next five years to battle cyber crime and revamp Canada’s aging digital security strategy.
The strategy, outlined in Tuesday’s federal budget, will look to improve the security and resilience of computer systems, and will put an emphasis on improving collaboration and leadership across the various levels of government.
A recent report from the department of public safety on Canada’s current strategy voiced concern about the many disconnected strands of the government’s cybersecurity apparatus and a l ack of communication, which has caused confusion both in the private and public sector. The old strategy dates back to 2010 and was implemented by the Harper government.
With Bill C- 59, the government’s flagship national security legislation, working its way through committee, the Communications Security Establishment is expected to see an increased mandate on cyber- security, both offensively and defensively.
Along with the new responsibilities, CSE, the country’s foreign intelligence organization, will be provided $155.2 million over five years, with $44.5 million per year after that, to create the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security.
The centre will be a source of “expert advice, guidance, services and support” on digital security and will bring all of the government’s operational cyber expertise into one place.
Legislation will be introduced to allow all the government’s various security functions to be folded into one centre under CSE, but the RCMP will still be responsible for investigating any criminal activity.
For that job, the RCMP will set up a National Cybercrime Co- ordination Unit, funded by $ 116 million over five years, with $ 23 million per year afterwards.
The unit will attempt to centralize cyber- security expertise and provide advice to law enforcement agencies.
The government has also set aside $ 236 million over five years, with $ 41 million per year after that, for further to-be-announced security initiatives, bringing the total investment to about $507 million.
Aside from the money provided for the cyber- security, CSE will also see an infusion of money to “keep pace with rapid technol ogical change” that has complicated its intelligencegathering efforts. Starting in 2020-21, CSE will receive $225 million over four years and then $ 62.1 million per year after that.
With security breaches and leaks of personal information becoming almost a routine occurrence, the government is also allocating $30 million over five years to the Canada Revenue Agency to protect personal and financial information.