As cyberattacks skyrocket, Canada needs to work with—and not hinder—cybersecurity experts

guest · Jul 28, 2021

As cyberattacks skyrocket, Canada needs to work with—and not hinder—cybersecurity experts
July 28, 2021
https://techxplore.com/news/2021-07-cyberattacks-skyrocket-canada-withand-hindercybersecurity.html

Cyberattacks are on the rise, impacting people, systems, infrastructures and governments with potentially devastating and far-reaching effects.

A common cause of cyberattacks involves the exploitation of security vulnerabilities.
There can be particularly significant impacts when attackers exploit security vulnerabilities involving digital systems used by federal governments.
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Canada lagging behind
By comparison, our recent report found that the government of Canada is lagging behind countries like the U.S. by failing to welcome vulnerability reports from external experts.

Our report, published through the Cybersecure Policy Exchange at Ryerson University, is the first publicly available research that examines how Canada treats the reporting of security flaws in comparison to other countries.
We discovered that while 60 percent of G20 members have distinct and clear processes for reporting security vulnerabilities in public infrastructure, Canada does not.
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And while the United Kingdom and the U.S. governments have promised to make efforts to fix security flaws that are reported, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has made no such promise.

By not supporting and protecting security researchers in identifying vulnerabilities, these gaps ultimately put Canada and Canadians at greater risk.
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The Canadian government needs to implement clearer processes and policies to foster co-operation with cybersecurity experts working in the public interest.
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Cybersecure Policy Exchange: See Something, Say Something

Coordinating the Disclosure of Security Vulnerabilities in Canada
In light of these findings, we advocate for the following three policy solutions in Canada to remedy these gaps:

1. Canada needs a policy framework for good faith vulnerability discovery and disclosure;
2. Canada should carefully implement coordinated vulnerability disclosure procedures for the federal government’s computer systems, and draw on emerging best practices as it does so; and
3. Vulnerabilities disclosed to the government from external actors should be kept separate from the government’s handling of vulnerabilities uncovered internally in the course of Canada’s defensive and offensive intelligence efforts.
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As cyberattacks skyrocket, Canada needs to work with—and not hinder—cybersecurity experts

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