Ms. Michaud, you're absolutely right. This phenomenon affects public health, research and development and the Canadian economy. These threats exist throughout our society. We've tried to clearly describe the situation in this area in paragraphs 64 to 67.
First, CSE has assessed that the number and sophistication of cyber-threat actors is increasing. Second, CSE says state-sponsored programs from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea pose the greatest strategic threat to Canada, likely attempting to develop cyber-capabilities to disrupt Canadian critical infrastructure: energy systems, water systems, our grid and traffic flow control. Third, CSE notes that state-sponsored actors continue to conduct commercial espionage against our businesses, academia and government to steal intellectual property. Fourth, CSE tells us that online foreign influence campaigns are ongoing and are not limited to major political events, like elections.
This phenomenon is happening everywhere. We wanted to describe it for the benefit of parliamentarians and Canadians so that they can understand the scale of the situation and see that it affects all sectors of our economy and our universities.