‘Increased risk of foreign interference and espionage’: Canada warns of threat to its Covid-19 effort

A statement in this regard was issued jointly by Canada’s Communications Security Establishment or CSE and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

Canada’s intelligence agencies have warned against increased cyber-espionage efforts by state-sponsored actors to obtain data and research related to the effort to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, including vaccine development. While the warning does not name China, it follows that from American agencies which were explicit in naming it.

A man wearing a face mask and a face shield waits for a bus before repatriation flights bound for Canada organized by the Canadian embassy. (REUTERS)

A statement in this regard was issued jointly by Canada’s Communications Security Establishment or CSE and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

CSIS pointed to “an increased risk of foreign interference and espionage.” It noted it is working with such potentially vulnerable organisations “to ensure that their work and proprietary information remains safely in their control. Its focus is on protecting Canadian intellectual property from these threats.”

The Communications Security Establishment assessed that it was “near-certain that state-sponsored actors have shifted their focus during the pandemic and that Canadian intellectual property represents a valuable target,” according to the statement.

“With regards to the specific threats, the Cyber Centre has assessed that the Covid-19 pandemic presents an elevated level of risk to the cybersecurity of Canadian health organizations involved in the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement added.

It also underscored coordination with the United States in the effort to safeguard intellectual property related to coronavirus research and development activity, as the statement said, “We regularly share information with our partners, including the US, which has a significant impact on protecting our respective countries’ safety and security.”

This statement comes in the wake of that issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in America. The US has openly named China and its agencies as being the attempts to steal such critical research at this time.

The Canadian statement comes after the CSE had issued a public alert in March in which it had warned that such attempts at piracy of proprietary knowledge was to be expected, as it said then: “These actors may attempt to gain intelligence on Covid-19 response efforts and potential political responses to the crisis or to steal ongoing key research towards a vaccine or other medical remedies.”