A scathing new report from the auditor general found that Canadian federal agencies and law enforcement aren’t adequately equipped to handle the rising threat of cybercrime.
Driving the news: The report found that the RCMP has struggled to track cybercrime cases accurately, in part due to chronic understaffing in its cybercrime departments, while the CRTC and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) often did not have the power to address issues that came their way.
Why it matters: If you ever find yourself the victim of a cybercrime (and we hope you don’t), reporting it won’t be easy. One main issue highlighted by the report was poor co-ordination, which resulted in many reported incidents never making it to where they needed to go.
- The CSE couldn’t act on nearly half of the reports it received between 2021 and 2023 because they involved individuals, not organizations, which is outside of its purview.
What’s next: The public safety minister said a revised federal cybersecurity strategy will arrive this year. This new strategy could implement some of the report’s recommendations, including improvements to victim notification procedures and the RCMP’s IT systems.—QH