Government investing in new cyber security initiatives

The federal government announced on Monday the creation of the CyberSecure Canada program, a new certification program for Canadian businesses to further promote cyber security as a central tenet of commercial enterprise. In a release from Innovation, Science, and Economic Development, the department describes the program as “voluntary” and says it is designed for “small and medium-sized organizations achieve a baseline level of cyber security.” Finance Minister Bill Morneau made the announcement on behalf of Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains at the University of New Brunswick's Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity, the release said. The program is a “collaboration” between ISED, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), with the CSE having the “technical authority over the program,” and operating what the statement describes as a “basic set of cyber security controls—drawn from the best international practices … with minimal burden on those organizations.” Small- and medium-size enterprises that complete the requirements determined by the program will be certified by a certification body that has been accredited by the SCC. Alongside the announcement of the CyberSecure Canada program, Morneau also announced just under a million dollars of funding for what the government is calling a “talent development pilot” for the cyber security sector operated by the New Brunswick tech startup TechImpact. The program, according to the government, will create some 70 “highly skilled jobs” in the cyber security sector, and is being funded through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, according to the release. “With these investments, our government is helping small and medium-sized businesses protect themselves against cyber threats, increase consumer confidence, and promote broader trust in the digital economy," Bains said in the release. The announcement comes just a few days after Public Safety Canada announced the investment of $10.3 million over five years to the Cyber Security Cooperation Program, which “supports projects aimed at improving Canada’s cyber systems to increase innovation and cooperation,” according to an August 7 release. Of the overall $10.3 million, $2.3 million will be available for recipients in 2019 and 2020. The proposals for funding will be accepted until August 28. In June, the public safety and national security committee of the House of Commons called on the federal government to look at ways to make sure that Canadian data stays on Canadian soil, and avoid routing it through the United States. According to documents obtained in July through access to information law, the government plans to put the CRTC in charge of creating and enforcing telecom law related to cyber security.

Government investing in new cyber security initiatives

Brief | August 13, 2019

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