Evidence of meeting #101 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was use.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:40 a.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Natural Resources
I can turn it to Pierre.
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
We work with our service provider. We work closely with Shared Services Canada to make sure that the network is monitored and protected. Similarly, we work with our central agencies to support it from a cybersecurity threat perspective, and we maintain this equipment. We keep it up to date. We provide guidance on utilization of the network. We keep and maintain our systems and patch them for security. We also internally train personnel to make sure they're following the proper security guidance.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
You mentioned NRCan is adapting to an increased focus on security. Can you elaborate on some of the threats facing Canada?
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
There are many threats. A lot of what NRCan works on has commercial value, so there's an external threat, for sure. That's always the case.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
There are many areas of business, such as energy, where NRCan is interesting for foreign entity or domestic reasons. It is always the nature of the business. The interesting challenge within NRCan is the open nature of the science culture. It's definitely a challenge for us to maintain the proper balance of sharing information with key stakeholders and protecting important assets.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
You mentioned domestic. Can you share what the domestic threat is?
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
From a commercial perspective, there's an interest in some of the technology, the breakthroughs or the scientific information that would have potential—
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
That's correct.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
What circumstances occurred that warranted the procurement of this offer?
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
It was mostly from a readiness perspective. As an IT organization, I think it's perfectly normal for us to keep up to date and stay current with the technological advances. The technology is always advancing and evolving. The threat vectors are also advancing and people get more sophisticated, so I think it's properly normal for an organization to make sure that it maintains a certain degree of technology savviness.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
That's correct.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Are government employees made aware of when the forensic tools are used during investigations? I think that question may have been asked slightly differently.
11:40 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
IT security would be engaged via a well-established protocol, so our chief security officer would initiate a mandate on investigation. That's where IT gets engaged. From my perspective as a CIO, my mandate focuses on providing tools and equipment to help support a security investigation. Absolutely, there is an established protocol, and specifically to—
11:45 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, Department of Natural Resources
Absolutely. If we were to investigate a physical device, this would be done, first of all, within a personnel security engagement. At this stage, they would absolutely do a review of the impact on security, and they would engage the scope of the actual investigation. IT would get engaged. This is done in a secure environment where access is logged and managed. The information provided by IT is returned to the chief security officer organization, and that's where it's treated internally.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Bains.
Thank you, Mr. Pelletier.
Mr. Villemure, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Martel, Mr. Pelletier said earlier that there were other ways to achieve the same results. Is that also true for you?
11:45 a.m.
Acting Chief Information Officer, Department of National Defence
You mean other ways to achieve what, exactly?
11:45 a.m.
Bloc