Public Safety committee  I think there's a fundamental challenge in building out secure infrastructure and secure systems. It is very hard. To give you an example, it has taken probably the better part of 10 or 15 years to simply ensure that when you update your web browser or your operating system, it w

Public Safety committee  I would just say that this is an area where government can be very effective. If you look at the investments by the Canadian government compared to those of our closer allies, obviously the U.S. is the juggernaut to the south. You can also look at the U.K. and other countries. Yo

Public Safety committee  I believe it would begin to go a long way. Ideally, any strategy that is laid out should be clear and direct. I think this is an area where you can look to the United States—where it's taken about 10 years, but most of the agencies have started to come together, the intelligence

Public Safety committee  In the case of CSE, it does possess what's called a vulnerabilities equities program. This is a way by which CSE determines whether it will disclose or retain vulnerabilities that it identifies. It's not public. It's not clear how effective it is, and it's not clear what data is

Public Safety committee  There's definitely a concern associated with third party applications gaining access to information and using it in ways that individuals aren't aware of. We see that throughout the app ecosystem. A variety of things could be done. I would identify one of the lower-stake things

Public Safety committee  This came up extensively in our discussions in Washington and throughout the United States. The U.S. officials were very circumspect and did not state explicitly that Canada had the right or wrong policy. Rather, they indicated that should we adopt an approach that parallels that

Public Safety committee  There's a series of different problems. One of them pertains to the potential for equipment to be updated in ways that are detrimental to Canada's national security interests. This could involve a firmware update that modifies the way the most basic elements of the boards operate

Public Safety committee  It would be incredibly challenging to ascertain it. By the nature of updates, you might be safe at one point and unsafe at another point in the future.

Public Safety committee  From the perspective of the Citizen Lab, and more broadly the computer security community, security is an ongoing state. Security imposes friction and decreases the likelihood of an opportune activity taking place, but there's no such thing as perfect security. You point to acti

Public Safety committee  I think that, currently, there are challenges within the Five Eyes countries: Canada, the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and the U.K. The United States, outside of its law enforcement discussions, has showcased a strong desire to support strong encryption. The National Security Ag

Public Safety committee  Good afternoon. My name is Christopher Parsons. I am a Research Associate at the Citizen Lab, which is part of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. I appear at this committee in a professional capacity that represents my views and tho