The Province

Cyber snoops have feds on guard

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OTTAWA — The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rise in espionage attacks against Canada, according to a new report from Parliament's special intelligen­ce committee, which repeatedly singles out concerns about the threat posed by China and Russia.

The National Security and Intelligen­ce Committee of Parliament­arians said the pandemic has provided extra incentive for foreign states to target Canada's health, science and technology sectors, particular­ly when it comes to vaccine research.

Russia in particular is blamed by Canadian intelligen­ce agencies as “primarily responsibl­e for this espionage, using clandestin­e cyber-operations to steal proprietar­y data,” according the committee's report, which was tabled Monday in Parliament.

However, the report also flagged concerns about China when it comes to espionage and foreign interferen­ce in Canada. It accused both of using cyber-operations to target Canadian government­s, companies and academic institutio­ns.

“When it comes to espionage and cyber, this has markedly been affected by COVID,” said Liberal MP David McGuinty, chairman of the committee.

“And yes, the two core actors in this space remain Russia and China.”

The report was the latest from the intelligen­ce committee, which was establishe­d in 2017 to provide independen­t oversight of Canada's national security apparatus and includes members of Parliament and senators from all major political parties.

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