Federal Auditor General Karen Hogan says government and its agencies are ill-equipped to combat cybercrime in Canada.
Hogan’s findings were delivered in one of three separate reports before the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee today.
Hogan found that neither the RCMP, Communications Security Establishment Canada, the Canadian Radio-Television and Communications Commission, nor Public Safety Canada have the capacity or the capability to effectively enforce laws against cybercrime activities, and protect Canadians online.
Photo via CPAC
“Part of the issue,” Hogan told the federal Public Accounts Committee, “is the federal government’s siloed, and disconnected approach. We found breakdowns in response, co-ordination, tracking and information sharing between, and across the responsible organizations.”
Hogan also found that RCMP struggled to staff its cybercrime investigative teams.
“We estimated that as of January of 2024 close to one third of positions across all teams, were vacant.” She says having a plan to reduce human resource gaps, across all organizations involved in fighting cybercrime, including the RCMP “is an important component of a national cybersecurity strategy.”
