Canadian Cyber In Context in 2024

Looking ahead at what to expect from Canadian Cyber in Context

I first would like to thank all of my subscribers and those who have supported me this past year. Canadian Cyber in Context originally started as a side project to catalogue my sporadic writing about Canadian cyber defence that does not reach the level for publication. Although it began as a side project, the reaction and support I have received have encouraged me to commit to Canadian Cyber in Context full-time in 2024.

This means that there will be more consistent updates about important news related to Canadian cyber defence and more in-depth research projects. To keep this research publication free and open to the public, I will seek sponsorships, grants, and partnerships to support its ongoing work.

2023 Recap

Before getting into what we can expect this year, what did 2023 look like for Canadian cyber defence? This past year for Canada’s military cyber defence has been eventful and eye-opening. Since 2017, when I began to study Canadian cyber defence, I have made no effort to hide my disappointment with the lack of progress and inconsistent, ad-hoc approaches to policy by the Government of Canada and Canadian Armed Forces. However, after this past year, there is cause to be optimistic about the direction of Canadian cyber defence.

The Good

• CAF Digital Campaign Plan and Pan-Domain Force Employment Concept provide a solid foundation and plan to modernize the Canadian Armed Forces digitally.

• Beginning under previous Minister of Defence Anita Anand, the government started slowly changing its posture in cyberspace, which eventually resulted in the Canadian Armed Forces admitting it conducted offensive cyber operations in its Departmental Results.

• Canada conducts regular hunt-forward operations as part of its NATO Latvia mission.

• The Canadian Program for Cybersecurity Certification is in full swing and is supposed to enter into force at the end of 2024, but we may see this pushed into 2025.

• The Department of National Defence has finally recognized its timeline for Secret Cloud, and digital modernization does not align with the capabilities requiring Secret Cloud.

The Bad

• Political leadership and bureaucracy in the Department of National Defence remain the primary impediments to progress and policy development.

• The delay in the Defence Policy Update continues to cause anxiety in the defence industry, amongst analysts, and Canada’s allies.

• Good plans require follow-through, which the Trudeau government has struggled to do for its entire tenure. While the Digital Campaign Plan and other efforts have set the Armed Forces on a good path, this requires follow-through from more than military leadership, but requires much more effort on behalf of political leaders.

  • Many of the significant advancements over 2023 are a direct result of Canadian Armed Forces leadership and direct efforts on behalf of the previous Minister of Defence. Canadian political leadership and bureaucrats still need help understanding cyber defence policy and remain ignorant due to a lack of education.

The Year Ahead

What can you expect in 2024? Here are a few highlights:

• Updated logo and promotional materials.

• Increased and ongoing coverage of Canadian cyber defence news

• Coverage of the upcoming House of Commons study of Bill C-26: An Act respecting cyber security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts

• Articles that will be worked on:

  • A Canadian Global Affairs Institute article to update my series about Canadian cyber defence.

  • A North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network article about the role of cyber in NORAD modernization: a preview of this can be watched here.

• The big project I will be working on is a series looking at the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces’ use of secret cloud. This series will include:

  • What is Secret Cloud? And how does it differ from other types of classified cloud environments like Protected B?

  • What does the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces need? This will look at what the stated requirements are against a foresight analysis of capabilities and their impact on the need for Secret Cloud.

  • What are the views of industry?

    • This will be a multi-part series that will look at the providers vying to provide Secret Cloud for the Armed Forces and other defence industry organizations whose capabilities or services will rely upon the use of Secret Cloud.

• More to be announced! A lot is in the works, which will be announced once confirmed.

• I will soon be formally accepting commissions and requests for work.