Braver Canada by Derek H. Burney

Author:Derek H. Burney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MQUP
Published: 2019-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

8

Finding Moorings in a Brewing Cyber Storm

Canadians now live in two worlds – the physical and the virtual – that increasingly meld into each other as the Internet of Things takes hold of the ordinary objects of daily life – cars, homes, and, yes, even clothes and toothbrushes. Already, Canadians inhabit the virtual world through cell phones, text messages, emails, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, apps like WhatsApp, and even the Weather Channel. But as everyone knows, digital interactions and data footprints go much further than a simple text or tweet. Whether through a cell phone app, an automatic teller machine, or a Fitbit, every tap of a key or flick of a wrist runs through the Internet, leaving a long digital trail.

Major sectors of the Canadian economy are also now largely managed by platforms that operate on the Internet. Affected infrastructure includes roads, railways, water and sewage treatment plants, air traffic control, banks, pipelines, and energy grids. Without the Internet, educational institutions, businesses, and governments would quickly grind to a halt. But all of these sectors are also vulnerable to cyber attacks. As noted by cyber expert Melissa Hathaway, who led the Cyberspace Policy Review for President Barack Obama after directing the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative for President George W. Bush and who has closely studied Canada’s cyber vulnerabilities, “I don’t think there has been a thoughtful analysis of what are the most strategic assets of this country from coast to coast and what are the powerhouses of the Canadian economy – oil and gas, the major ports, finance, telecom or silicon valley, etc. – and what is being targeted in terms of [both] cyber threats and theft of intellectual property.” The problem, she says, “is there is no national vision.” Canada “is ten years behind most developed economies in terms of thinking strategically about how it is economically dependent on the Internet and what it needs to do to make its economy secure and resilient. Canadians are taking too many things for granted and not looking at what is at risk.”1 This is the challenge that needs to be answered by a coherent strategy and clear lines of delivery and accountability.

THE HIDDEN WIRING OF THE ECONOMY

Both the Canadian and the global economies now depend heavily on the Internet, which is changing ways of doing business and transforming how people communicate and interact with each other. Without a hint of exaggeration, as one study notes, “The Internet is one of the major drivers of globalization in the twenty-first century; it is putting producers and consumers in much closer reach and, in the process, upsetting traditional ways of doing business … Digital flows are cutting costs, improving productivity and positively affecting countries’ growth rates around the world … [C]ross-border Internet traffic, which has grown by a factor of 500 since the beginning of this century, could expand another eight-fold by 2025.”2

But the dependence on digital has given rise to new vulnerabilities. Not only is there the danger that one’s activities online are

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