Very impressive, but should intelligence services perform law enforcement operations?
A news junky like me does not remember seeing or reading much news about the Canadian spy agency.
"Offering a rare glimpse at the priorities of a top spy organization, Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said it conducted a handful of state-authorized hacks last year in order to disrupt the operations of drug traffickers, violent extremists, and a ransomware gang. ..."
One of the operations, per the report, targeted cybercriminals outside of Canada who were brokering the sale of chemicals used to create the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The CSE collected intelligence on the brokers, then conducted an operation that “disrupted and diminished their ability to operate,” the report said.
Another active operation involved the collection of signals intelligence — data produced from electronics and internet-connected devices — on an overseas extremist group that was spreading violent ideology and recruiting members, including in Canada.
The report said the agency analyzed the group’s organization, reach, and potential vulnerabilities to conduct an operation that “successfully undermined the group’s credibility and limited their ability to radicalize and recruit new members.”
Another operation involved disrupting a ransomware-as-a-service operation that let hackers rent access to a ransomware gang’s infrastructure to launch destructive extortion attacks. The CSE said its signals intelligence unit identified how the gang worked against the healthcare, transportation, and business sectors in Canada, then used an active cyber operation that “rendered the group’s infrastructure inoperable.” The operation also deleted much of the data on the gang’s servers.
The agency said it undertook concurrent “technical disruptions” against 10 of the most significant ransomware gangs targeting Canada to “make parts of their infrastructure unusable.” ..."
"Nuntium Comparat et Custodit" is a Latin phrase that translates to "Providing and protecting information". The official motto of the CSE.
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