Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) noted “hostile intelligence services” linked to the governments of China and Russia continue to target Canadians for “intelligence collection and asset recruitment, according to a report released by the country’s intelligence agency on Friday.
In the Public Report 2021, tabled in parliament on Friday, the CSIS said that China, along with traditional spying activity, “relies on non-traditional collectors- individuals without formal intelligence training who have relevant subject matter expertise (i.e. scientists, business people), including those who are recruited via talent programs (i.e. scholarships, sponsored trips, visiting professorships, etc.) and other non-transparent means in Canada”.
It cited China’s Thousand Talents Plan — a programme started by the Chinese government in 2008 to bring back leading scientists and engineers from abroad — as an example, adding that cyber actors linked to the Chinese state “continue to target multiple critical sectors within Canada”.
The report also warns of similar activities by Russian actors, especially in the context of the attack on Ukraine. It said Russian military and intelligence entities are “engaged in information confrontations targeting Ukraine,” and such activities “include the spread of disinformation and propaganda attempting to paint Ukraine and Nato as the aggressors in the current conflict”.
It also accused Russian foreign intelligence service (SVR) of using malware to install backdoors “into the networks of thousands of government and private sector clients. Hundreds of Canadian entities downloaded an infected version of the software, putting personal data and intellectual property at risk”.
The CSIS took cognisance of the potential fallout of the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan in August last year. The Taliban, the report said, “continued to allow transnational terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), to remain in country.”
Though their current activities are limited, “there is a possibility that Al Qaeda will once again view Afghanistan as a safe training ground,” it noted.It assessed that the Daesh-affiliated Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) “will have the capacity to conduct external attacks within the near future and are highly motivated to do so”.
Last year, CSIS said, People’s Republic of China-sponsored actors engaged in the indiscriminate exploitation of Microsoft Exchange servers, putting several thousand Canadian entities at risk. “Victims included governments, policy think tanks, academic institutions, infectious disease researchers, law firms, defense contractors, and retailers.”
