Cybersecurity Awareness: Rate of Cyber Attacks Increasing

In April 2022, the Communications Security Establishment and its international partners released a joint cyber security advisory on Russian state-sponsored and criminal cyber threats to critical infrastructure.

The Communications Security Establishment and its partners recommend the following mitigation measures.

•         Create, maintain, and exercise (for example tabletop, functional, or full-scale exercises) a cyber incident response and continuity of operations plan.
•         Maintain offline (physically disconnected from network connections) backups of data.
•         Ensure all backup data is encrypted, immutable (cannot be changed or deleted), and covers the entire organization's data infrastructure.
•         Identify a resilience plan that addresses how to operate if you lose access to, or control of, the IT assets within your system.

You can find more information on this joint advisory from Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Take action

The Communications Security Establishment and its partners encourage you to take these easy steps to protect your system. You can also implement mitigation measures for routinely exploited vulnerabilities.

If you wish to test your IT systems for vulnerabilities, Public Safety Canada offers free review and analysis tools. You can include their assessments in your facility's Biosecurity Risk Assessment and Biosecurity Plan.

If a private company assesses your information technology system, make sure they have the appropriate security clearance to access information about your security access control methods.

If you have a question about your systems, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security is your first point of contact. They are the national authority for cybersecurity in Canada.