Trillions of cyber attacks aimed at Canadian government
Canadian government institutions were targeted in cyber attacks an estimated 2.3 trillion times during the previous fiscal year—or 6.3 billion times a day, says a report from the Communications Security Establishment (CSE).
In its Annual Report, which covered April 2022 to the end of March 2023, the attacks were referred to as “malicious actions” against the government, typically in the form of ransomware, information extraction, and attempts to map government systems, all of which increased in its last fiscal year compared to previous years.
The agency’s 2020-21 Annual Report said it blocked 2-7 billion malicious actions a day, and 3-5 billion during the following fiscal year.
The CSE told True North the war in Ukraine partially explains the latest increase.
“Since Russia’s unjustified and illegal invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, we have seen a notable rise in cyber threat activity by Russian-aligned actors targeting Ukraine’s allies, including Canada,” Robyn Hawco, a CSE spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.
