(Quebec) Quebec is tightening its computer security measures in the face of the “serious” threat of a Russian cyberattack.
Posted at 11:28
The Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital, Éric Caire, also wants to give a boost to his new ministry, hit by his own admission by a “perfect storm”. It will cede the storage of state data to the private sector in a less significant way than expected, in the name of security.
During the study of the budgetary appropriations on Tuesday, Liberal MP Gregory Kelley noted that the United States, in the context of the war in Ukraine, fears the risk of a Russian cyberattack against the countries which support the country of Volodymyr Zelensky . The White House has called on states and businesses to tighten their security measures, Kelley added, wondering if Quebec is doing the same.
According to Éric Caire, the “government takes the situation very seriously”. Especially since there is a risk that we “attack the entire northeastern United States through Quebec”.
PHOTO GRAHAM HUGHES, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Eric Cairo
“Unfortunately, groups and organizations say to themselves: ‘see if the Russians will be interested in me.’ You just have to imagine: if we attack Hydro-Québec and we manage to stop the production of electricity while we supply electricity to the Americans. If you want to attack the Americans, we are a good transmission belt,” explained the minister, while saying that he “doesn’t want to give anyone ideas”.
Quebec has “identified potential targets for a cyberattack”, such as electrical distribution networks. Additional resources have been allocated to raise security levels. Minister Caire added that he received an envelope of $100 million, under the Girard budget tabled last month, intended “exclusively for cybersecurity”.
Quebec is also concerned about the possibility of a cyberattack during the fall general election. Discussions are held with the Chief Electoral Officer to guard against this risk.
Created very recently by law, the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital was hit by “a perfect storm” from the start, admitted Éric Caire in response to questions from PQ member Martin Ouellet. Too many changes have been undertaken at the same time and the performance is not necessarily there, he explained in substance, while his deputy minister Guy Rochette was recently fired. It is a “retirement” that he did not want to comment on.
The minister intends to give a boost to his ministry. “There is no longer any tolerance for the fact that we exceed deadlines and budgets,” insisted Mr. Caire, who is still working on his digital identity project for every Quebecer.
In addition, he intended to entrust the private sector with the cloud storage of 80% of the State’s data, keeping only the data deemed “critical” (20%) in government control. The goal was to save money. However, he revealed that the government will ultimately keep much more data, 30% or 40%, all those deemed “necessary for the functioning of the State”. “We need to double our storage capacity,” he said.
The minister explained that the government made this decision considering the risk of being “cut off from our information” if Amazon or Microsoft were to be forced by another country like the United States to cut off all access from abroad. to their stored data, in the context of a dispute. Quebec could no longer access its data in such a situation.