As our lives and businesses have moved online, Canadians and Canadian industry have felt the growing impact of cyber threats. Cybercriminals have targeted our critical infrastructure, government networks, hospitals, and our industrial base. Cybercrime, and, in particular, ransomware continue to be the number one cyber issue affecting all levels of Canadian society. Preventing cybercrime is critical to Canadians’ public safety, national security, and economic prosperity. To reduce the number and impact of cyber incidents, we need to strengthen our defences and make Canada a more difficult target for hostile actors. In practice, this means improving our ability to deter, detect, identify, disrupt, and defend against the full range of cyber threats. The Government of Canada will work with partners, including all levels of law enforcement, to better protect Canadians from cybercriminals, including critical government and private sector critical infrastructure. This will include fostering the widespread adoption of strong cyber security standards and practices, increasing Canadian threat-monitoring capabilities to better detect incursions when they occur, and encouraging the sharing of threat intelligence and information across economic sectors to ensure a better view of the threats facing Canada. The Government of Canada will also continue to foster a coordinated response to cyber incidents. Objective 3.1: Identify, Deter, and Defend Against Cyber Threats Cyber threats to Canada’s national and economic security continue to grow every year. The Government of Canada takes direct action in international cyberspace to counter threats to Canada and Canadians, and to impose costs on malicious cyber actors. Under its cyber operations mandate, the Communications Security Establishment Canada43 (CSE) conducts cyber operations against foreign interference and the hostile activities of state actors. CSE has also countered sophisticated cybercrime operations and disrupted foreign-based extremist activity. CSE and the Canadian Armed Forces44 (CAF) engage jointly in defensive and offensive cyber operations, often in partnership with allies. The Government of Canada is also strengthening its military-to-military relationships to build on allies’ unique skills and insights. 43 https://www.cse-cst.gc.ca/en 44 https://forces.ca/en/ 26 National Cyber Security Strategy