Why Cybersecurity is Important for the Canadian Government

The Canadian Government depends on technological solutions to enhance citizen engagement and increase the efficiency of government services. On the other hand, increasing data breaches and cyberattacks that target government operations have created numerous challenges. At the same time, cybersecurity challenges and threats continue impacting government operations, leading to diminished public trust and the inability to deliver critical functions. In response, the Canadian Government must change its approach to addressing and mitigating cyber threats.

Cybersecurity Threats Facing the Government

In December 2021, Quebec announced that it would be shutting down nearly 4,000 government websites after an international attack targeted an essential logging system. Some affected government websites included public administration, health, and education. According to Eric Claire, the minister for government digital transformation, investigations did not indicate that the attack had affected the Government. Nevertheless, halting access to the websites was necessary as a preventive measure. “We were facing a threat with a critical level of 10 out of 10. According to the new protocols by the head of government information security, [that rating] automatically calls for the closure of the targeted systems,” he said.

In addition, several Canadian Ministers noted a spike of ransomware attacks in the country and urged organizations to implement immediate ransomware prevention measures. “As a highly-connected society, Canada is among the top countries targeted by cybercriminals, and unfortunately, no organization is immune,” Hon. Mary Ng, Minister for International Trade, noted. Canada is among the countries that have suffered the brunt of devastating ransomware attacks. “Ransomware has become increasingly common and poses a significant risk to the security and economic prosperity of Canadian organizations and individuals,” said Hon. Bill Blair, Minister of Emergency Preparedness. As such, the Canadian Government must work to combat cybercrime and enhance the nation’s cybersecurity posture.

Furthermore, the Communications Security Establishment email communication said that the Canadian federal government is on the lookout for Russian cyber threats in the telecommunication, finance, and energy sectors. This is in fear that Russia could target Canada’s private sector, Government, and critical infrastructure. Concerns about Canada’s Government’s ability to handle and address cyber threats have been mounting despite the increasing cybersecurity investments in the private sector. Besides, Canada’s Government has noted with concern the soaring cyber threats since the coronavirus pandemic and due to recent Canada-specific cyber events, such as attacks on Newfoundland and Labrador and the Toronto Transit Commission.
 

Recommended Measures for Mitigating Cybersecurity Risk in the Government

1.Proactive threat hunting

The Canadian Government must proactively embrace threat hunting to identify and respond to dormant threats. A threat hunting process across all endpoints should be continuous to ensure timely identification and mitigation of internal compromises to data and systems to uncover sophisticated threats. In this regard, all government agencies should obtain and maintain complete visibility of threat actors in a specific environment to facilitate round-the-clock threat hunting in complex IT settings. Also, government agencies should share the gleaned intelligence with other agencies and the private sector and incorporate it into indicators of compromise to ensure the identification of nefarious activities.

2.Continuous Monitoring and Threat Management

Rigorous and traditional periodic assessments in a sophisticated and interconnected government IT infrastructure has numerous limitations. As a result, threats and vulnerabilities may go for long without being detected, which increases the risks of a cyber-attack. Thus, the Government should adopt a new approach to protecting critical data and infrastructure. Adopting a continuous monitoring and threat management approach expands government agencies’ abilities in identifying and diagnosing threats. Continuous monitoring and threat management should focus on user access management, identity credentialing, and vulnerability management. Leveraging managed solutions can help government agencies identify misconfigurations, suspicious user activities, and other indicators of compromise, enabling the deployment of suitable countermeasures.

3.Orchestrating Cybersecurity Processes

Most agencies tasked with protecting critical infrastructure often face several limitations. For example, they often lack adequate cybersecurity staff for analyzing the increasing number of anomalous events, slow time remediating incidents, inconsistent and error-prone threat mitigation processes, and inexperienced staff lacking the skills to hunt for, analyze, and remediate new threats. Fortunately, orchestrating cybersecurity processes can help the Government to combat the limitations. Cybersecurity orchestration connects multiple security tools and integrates disparate cybersecurity systems to enable automation and minimize the need for human interactions and analysis. Also, it permits government organizations to achieve mature security ecosystems and classify actionable cyber events appropriately.

How Sentia can Help

Sentia recognizes the importance of data in running and managing critical services. Government agencies can leverage Sentia’s business continuity solutions to protect and secure critical data. Sentia professionals can assess the current cybersecurity strategies, identify security gaps, and provide a data protection solution customized to meet specific security needs. Also, Sentia network security professionals have the experience to design and manage government networks across a wide range of solutions, including multi-factor authentication.

More importantly, as cybersecurity continues to be a top priority for governments, Sentia cannot underscore enough the need for a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy to protect government agencies. Sentia’s qualified experts are committed to helping government agents to understand possible security threats and relevant tools and processes for securing business. In this case, Sentia has partnered with Cynet’s XDR platform to ensure end-to-end breach protection. Cynet’s XDR provides multilayered protection against malware, file-less attacks, exploits, and ransomware. Besides, automating responses to cyber threats and attacks using Sentia’s and Cynet’s security services and platforms can go a long way in securing government agencies from various threats.

Let’s get the conversation started by contacting Sentia here.