Canada Reveals its Cyber Command Targets in Budget 2024
A small phrase was added to Budget 2024 that is very telling.
On April 16, the Government of Canada released its Budget 2024. On the cyber defence side of things, there was nothing that big to report. Or, at the very least, nothing as big or important as the creation of a CAF Cyber Command. However, as I returned to Canada’s Budget 2024 to write a short analysis, something new jumped out to me that was not in the Defence Policy Update, but is far more telling about how Canada intends to use Cyber Command once its fully stood up.
In section 7.1 on National Defence and associated activities, the creation of a CAF Cyber Command is mentioned. Although Cyber Command specifically is not mentioned, the descriptions and funding matchings the 5-year totals as outlined in the Defence Policy Update.
The big change from the Defence Policy Update to Budget 2024 is the addition of a new phrase concerning what Cyber Command and the development of new cyber operations will be for: “protect Canada’s economic security and respond to evolving national security threats.”
While the Communications Security Establishment has already been targeting ransomware groups for years now, it has not been clear if this is being done on a case-by-case basis, only being done when an ally takes the lead, or really what the overall position of the Government of Canada and how it is using cyber operations to target ransomware groups.
The addition and recognition of the need to use cyber operations to protect Canada’s economic security is one of the clearest signals to date that Canada' intends to continue to target ransomware groups and likely intends to increase its ability to do so. An assumption could be made that as Canada increases its capabilities to target ransomware groups, this may increase the overall tempo and amount of operations conducted. However, government policy on this remains unclear so it is difficult to foresee the degree that this will influence Canadas operations.
Nevertheless, all signals publicly and conversations I have had with those in government, cyber operations will be one of the primary and most important tools that Canada will use in the future to work with allies. The United States has been pressuring Canada to increase its capacity and stomach to conduct cyber operations for many years now. Canada is now sending many signals that it understands this and will be an active cyber power in the future.