Vanguard Magazine

technoloGy wAtch www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2018/JANUARY 2019 39 cohesion, and authority. There is a need to be able to identify, assess, and respond to such cyberattacks. Cyber attribution for the defence of Canada: Cyber-attacks come in many forms. The Department of Na- tional Defence (DND) is looking for innovative solutions on accessing, in- terpreting, and comparing all available evidence to best identify and attribute the source of an attack. On October 1, 2018, Canada officially established its unified Canadian Cen- tre for Cyber Security. The Centre is a merger of 750 employees from existing cyber security operations at Public Safety Canada, Shared Services Canada, and the Communications Establishment under one roof and with one simple mandate: to maintain a safe and secure cyber space for the security, stability and prosperity of the country. Upholding this mandate is going to be a lot more complicated, and it will require new heights of Canadian technology and innovation. I–for one–am excited to see what the future brings! Nicole Verkindt is the technology editor of Vanguard magazine and founder and president of OMX. She is a board member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the board of the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs. It's clear that the cyber space isn't go- ing to go anywhere anytime soon, so here are some of the most pressing themes that Canada will be facing in the not-so- distant future–and how Canada's innova- tion community is looking to tackle these challenges. Cyber resilience Cyber security was first identified as a key field for Canadian defense investment and innovation in the 2013 Canada First re- port. Since then, it has been formally pri- oritized in Canada's offset policy under one of five Emergent Technologies in the Key Industrial Capabilities: "Cyber resilience spans every element of the domestic commercial, civil and na- tional security sectors and addresses the vulnerabilities created by the expansion of information technology and the knowl- edge economy. Activities in this segment include design, integration and imple- mentation of solutions that secure infor- mation and communications networks." Cyber resilience can be broken down into three categories: information securi- ty, IT security and operational technology (OT) security. Information security: The practice of defending electronic and digital data and information from unauthorized access/ intrusion, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, record- ing or destruction. IT security: Secure content and threat management (endpoint, messaging, net- work, web, cloud), security, vulnerability and risk management, identity and access management and other products (e.g. en- cryption/tokenization toolkits and secu- rity product verification testing), and edu- cation, training services and situational awareness. Operational technology (OT) secu- rity: Monitoring, measuring and protect- ing industrial automation, industrial pro- cess control and related systems. Cyber resilience may involve the development of tools and the integration of systems and processes that permit hardening of tacti- cal systems or broader networks, encryp- tion, cyber forensics, incident response, and others. Capabilities developed in this domain may increasingly draw on AI as an enabling technology; for example, net- works may autonomously and dynamically defend against intrusions and repair them- selves if disrupted. The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program is a prime example of Canadian investment in press- ing defense and security challenges. The $1.6 billion program will be providing in- novation funding over the next 20 years to pressing defence and security challeng- es including–you guessed it–cybersecurity. Here are some past IDEaS challenges that offer a peek into Canada's cyber pri- orities: Understanding cyber intent: Can- ada's defense and security agencies need to be able to distinguish between targeted malicious cyberattacks and broad oppor- tunistic cyberattacks. Detecting and responding to hostile information activities: Social media and online mass communications are increas- ingly being used to influence targeted audiences and undermine national values, Cyber resilience can be broken down into three categories: information security, IT security and operational technology (OT) security.

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