Cyberattacks push CSIS to reach out to business

“As economic espionage and hacking become growing threats to the West, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is stepping up efforts to persuade businesses to safeguard secrets deemed vital to national interests.

CSIS’s corporate-outreach program, which started in the 1990s, largely fell by the wayside during the years after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, when fighting terrorism absorbed nearly all the spy service’s energies.

But emerging threats – including shadowy-but-powerful hacker networks based in China – are sparking a renewed federal interest in forging partnerships between the corporate and intelligence worlds.

‘CSIS has and continues to speak with various corporations in Canada on potential security threats, which may have an impact on national security interests,’ CSIS spokeswoman Isabelle Scott said in an e-mailed response to questions from The Globe and Mail. ‘CSIS alerts firms to common covert methods used by those who may target them.’”

(Source: Cyberattacks push CSIS to reach out to business – The Globe and Mail)