All for One, and One for All

"It's all about how we get cash out of the machine, how we get gas out of the gas pump, it's food on the shelves, and one significant cyber attack on a critical infrastructure node will bring calamity upon us.

"We'll see, as we're freezing in February, wondering why the furnace won't turn on or why the gas pumps aren't working, that these are parts of the cyber threat that are real and potentially devastating."
Ray Boisvert, former assistant director of intelligence, CSIS

"Cyber is the threat of the ages and it's something we're just not getting our minds around.  It's extremely significant and it's having a big impact on both public and private sector interests.  It is fundamentally undermining our future prosperity as a nation."

There it is again, the message to be a little more alert, a long more concerned, and to prepare ourselves to respond in our own defence.  Simply put, foreign cyber espionage is capable of slipping the proverbial rug of smug indifference out from under our feet.  We cannot imagine our comfortable and reliable world upon which we so depend for our well-bring being mysteriously hauled into total dysfunction.

One might imagine that those at Treasury Board and the Finance Department who back in 2011 experienced an attack on their computers holding highly sensitive data would be sufficiently concerned to be motivated to insist on greater protection of the ongoing threat potential to Canada's security, and our national prosperity.  But, according to Mr. Boisvert, the nation's network-reliant infrastructure remains vulnerable.

The indispensable interconnected sectors; food and water, public utilities, aviation, public health, banking and telecommunications are all areas that are vulnerable to foreign agents' prying eyes and fingers.  "There's some wilful blindness on behalf (sic) of individuals", those gathered at the conference of Canadian Association of Security and Intelligence Studies heard.

"Not acting leaves us vulnerable to a computer loss of our economic and commercial advantages, not to mention our sovereignty.  Wishing it away is not an option."  And some of the resistance to taking all of this seriously enough to ensure that reliable and dependable and alert security protocols are put in place, why government and corporate decision-makers who do not fully understand and credit the viral cyberthreats.

In the wake of the federal Auditor General's report released last month finding federal departments and agencies slow or unwilling to share information in co-operation toward the growing need of battling cyber threats, compounded by businesses not knowing they should report hacking to government, or who cannot trust government to protect sensitive information about security breaches, that's a double blow.

Mr. Boisvert is now head of I-Sec Integrated Strategies.  He has experience and knowledge.  And he explains that it is not only China that wishes to obtain strategic data meant for Canadian eyes only.  "...Even good friends", he explains engage in spying online against Canada for access to critical financial, intellectual property, defence and diplomatic data, along with other valuable secrets rather too numerous to be complacent about.

Here's an anomalous situation: While CSIS is mandated to collect, analyze and advise government alone on potential threats to the country, private industry owns and operates roughly 85% of the country's critical infrastructure.'

"But ultimately it is going to come down to spending disproportionate amounts of money, investing in protecting critical infrastructure and cyber as a whole", he warned.