Less than six months after the official announcement was made, the federal government’s cyber security protection and defence teams were brought together under the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre), where they’ve already begun offering a unique set of services in Canada. To counter the threats we face, the Cyber Centre provides guidance and services to Canadians as well as businesses, institutions and governments across Canada. As the Cyber Centre’s lead of Operations, I understand the task of integrating and adapting the various teams and services is monumental, but I also know our clients need support immediately. As such, my initial focus has been on having our experts transform our existing knowledge and practices into advice for all Canadians.
Since any robust cyber security program rests on a solid foundation of prevention and protection, we started by ensuring the basics were available for everyone. First, we established a contact team, giving them all the communications tools at our disposal – a toll-free phone line at 1-833-CYBER-88, access to social media, and a traditional online platform, including email (contact@cyber.gc.ca). We then added a website, a blog, and an awareness campaign, and we continue to develop more tools.
Next, we began adapting our existing advice and guidance documents, starting with our most popular product, the “Top 10”: 10 IT security actions that help protect us in cyberspace. At first glance, these recommended actions may seem trivial, but they substantially reduce the level of risk an individual, business or public institution is exposed to. As for the rest of our knowledge base, we’re taking a progressive approach, adapting each product according to the questions we’re being asked. We’re taking over 70 years’ of practice and experience observing threats targeting the federal government, and adapting them for the benefit of all Canadians.
But we’ve only just begun. There’s a lot of work ahead, starting with the creation of support networks, because, in cyber as in any other sector, there’s strength in unity. In a world where cyber risks become business risks, and where an attack can lead to financial losses, or, damaged trust and reputation, we can’t afford to focus solely on protection and prevention. In our next blogs, we’ll discuss network defence and the importance of collaboration – and everything we can do to shift the equation in our favour. Together, let’s raise the bar and dissuade those who threaten our security from entering our Canadian ecosystem