Commentary I don’t know how many times I have heard Canadians say that CSIS stands for the “Canadian Secret Intelligence Service.” It does not. The first “s” stand for “security,” and a security intelligence service is different than a foreign intelligence one, although in some countries the mandates overlap (think CIA). Similarly, many are convinced…

Former senior intelligence executives in Canada’s two main collection agencies have come out against the key recommendation of the special rapporteur on foreign interference, telling MPs that a public inquiry needs to be held to restore confidence in the country’s institution. “I wish to see the government, and more particularly and respectfully, the prime minister,…

OTTAWA—A culture within Canada’s cyberspy service of “resisting and impeding” independent review has frustrated efforts to ensure it is obeying the law, say newly released documents from the federal intelligence watchdog. The unusually candid National Security and Intelligence Review Agency records from 2021 are the latest evidence of the watchdog’s irritation at trying to scrutinize…

Canada’s electronic spy agency says it warned system operators “in a timely-as-possible way” about a Russian-backed hacker who lurked in their computer networks three months ago with the capacity to do physical damage. Sami Khoury, the head of the Communications Security Establishment’s Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, refused to provide details about the timing or…

Canada faces two main cybersecurity threats, according to testimony on Feb. 7 at the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence. These include the cyber programs of countries that are hostile to Canada, as well as cyber crimes such as ransomware attacks, MPs were told. “The state sponsored cyber programs of Russia, China, Iran, and…

Canada’s communications spy agency is keeping a close tab on the Chinese social media application TikTok, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Dec. 15. “People are obviously watching very carefully, there’s a range of ways that we’re actively keeping Canadians safe,” he said in a scrum on Parliament Hill. “The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) is…

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in late May that “new tools” were needed to combat a host of threats, such as “misinformation,” social media being “weaponized,” and “right-wing terrorism,” but various government departments contacted by The Epoch Times provided few details on what those tools might be. Public Safety mentioned investments in the Communications Security…

Canada’s eavesdropping agency provided an update on April 13 on its monitoring of Russia-backed disinformation campaigns through social media and controlled media outlets, and said the Kremlin is behind claims that Canadian soldiers were in the Donbas region and committed war crimes. The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) says media outlets controlled by Russia, but made…

The federal cybersecurity agency warns Canadians are likely to run into some effort by foreign actors to influence or interfere with their right to vote ahead of, and during, the next election. The Communications Security Establishment also says in a new report that holding a federal election during the COVID−19 pandemic could increase the threat…

OTTAWA—The national intelligence watchdog says Canada’s cyberspy agency may have broken the law in disclosing personal information about Canadians. The Ottawa-based Communications Security Establishment, given its foreign-intelligence mandate, suppresses details that identify Canadians, or even people in Canada, in its reports. Such identifying information ranges from names of people to email addresses and computer IP…