Thank you very much.
As mentioned earlier, the Learning Hub is based at the Cyber Centre and provides training to improve the cybersecurity of Canada’s government and critical infrastructure organizations.
During the 2021-22 fiscal year, the learning hub renewed its collaboration with the Canada School of Public Service to provide a standardized cybersecurity curriculum for all federal public servants. The learning hub and CSPS co-developed an e-learning course to introduce public servants from non-technical backgrounds to the basics of cloud computing. This is a priority topic for the public service as departments continue to migrate their IT infrastructure to the cloud.
Government of Canada organizations are increasingly leveraging cloud computing, which has the potential to deliver agile, flexible and cost-effective IT services. As noted in our 2021-22 annual report, CSE continues to function as a pathfinder for the GC in migrating to the cloud.
Indeed, CSE was an early adopter of cloud technology, and we ensured that we were the initial adopters of our own internal advice and guidance.
We were the first department to securely implement several commercial cloud applications, securing them with our cloud-based sensors. We demonstrated leadership by sharing the lessons learned and the relevant advice and guidance with other departments.
As I mentioned earlier, the cyber centre is the operational lead for protecting the GC from cyber-threats such as ransomware and cyber-espionage.
We work with federal partners to defend the government’s networks and the sensitive information of federal institutions.
While there is no such thing as zero risk when it comes to cyber-threats, we are ensuring that the highest levels of protection are in place. The cyber centre uses autonomous sensors to detect malicious cyber-activity on government networks, systems and cloud infrastructure. We use three types of sensors: network-based sensors, cloud-based sensors, and host-based sensors.
These sensors allow the cyber centre to deter cyber-threats happening in real time. Our classified knowledge of threat-actor behaviour allows us to defend against and block these threats.
We work with our federal partners to ensure that the appropriate safeguards have been applied to ensure the security and the privacy of their information that is hosted in the cloud. As cloud environments continue to evolve, we are making sure that we continue to evolve our tools to ensure that the government's systems are well defended and secure.
I would like to thank the Office of the Auditor General of Canada for their report and the committee for bringing us together to discuss this important topic.
Although none of these recommendations outlined in the report is specific to CSE, we welcome them. CSE and the cyber centre take information security very seriously, and this includes the government's data in the cloud. We will continue to collaborate with our federal partners to move forward on these recommendations.
Members of the committee, I can assure you that CSE will continue to work with partners to bolster Canada's cybersecurity, while at the same time ensuring that the necessary protections are in place to respect Canadians' privacy.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important study, and I'm looking forward to answering any additional questions you may have.