The global environment is becoming more contested, more volatile, and increasingly shaped by strategic rivalry across economic, military, and technological domains. For Canada, this means the range of potential crises—whether geopolitical, economic, cyber, or hybrid in nature—is expanding. Canada’s state adversaries are increasingly using cyber operations to disrupt and divide. State-sponsored cyber threat actors are very likely targeting critical infrastructure (CI) networks in Canada and allied countries to pre-position for the ability to undertake future disruptive or destructive cyber operations that affect vital systems.
This talk will highlight how, from the Communication Security Establishment (CSE)’s and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS)’s vantage point, state-sponsored cyber threat activity is shifting beyond traditional espionage toward disruptive and destructive cyber threats. This includes denying services, manipulating or deleting data, and targeting physical and software supply chains. In a geopolitical crisis, these threat actors very likely view civilian CI as a legitimate target for cyber sabotage.
Drawing on national-level assessments and frontline experience, this session will underscore the importance of collaboration and information sharing within sectors and across sectors. The objective is to gain a better understanding of Canada’s most critical cyber dependencies, the tactics shaping today’s threat landscape, and the implications for government, industry, and the public. It will also highlight how Canada’s cyber defence community, including CSE and the Cyber Centre, is working to protect federal systems and support CI operators across the country. The session will convey that CCCS is interested in engaging to understand shared critical dependencies and trends within sectors. This, to paint a broader picture of how to collectively protect and defend a what we define as a “Minimum Viable Canada”.
Attendees will gain a clear, strategic understanding of the risks Canada faces, and the actions leaders must take to collaborate in strengthening resilience in an era where cyber threats are central to national security.
