Federal agency touts operation of cybersecurity sensors across the North

Federal agency touts operation of cybersecurity sensors across the North

The deployment to government networks follows a series of high profile incidents.

Following a series of high-profile cybersecurity incidents in recent years, a federal agency is now operating tools across the North with the aim of blocking malicious activity by cyber criminals and foreign governments.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) touts in its latest annual report the operation of digital sensors on territorial government IT systems. The Northwest Territories was the first to have the sensors rolled out on its computer networks in late 2022 followed by the Yukon and Nunavut in 2024.

Bridget Walshe with CSE's Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said the sensors are a type of software which can be installed on laptops, servers and in the cloud. The software checks computer systems to see if they are up to date and if there are any vulnerabilities while also scanning for suspicious activity.

The information is sent to the centre in Ottawa where it is reviewed by analysts. Any issues are then relayed back to the government agency which is affected to determine what actions to take.

CSE has not released any specific information on the effectiveness of the sensors in countering cyber attacks in the North.

However, Walshe said the operations led to 150 “prevention and detection” reports shared with territorial and provincial governments, which account for just five per cent of sensor deployments.

The North has seen a number of high-profile incidents in recent years which underscore the need to secure computer networks, including a ransomware virus that crippled Nunavut government operations in 2019.

An intrusion in 2022 cost the government of the Northwest Territories more than $700,000 to contain.

The City of Yellowknife took its services offline for a week in 2025 as a precautionary measure in response to a ransomware threat.

A wider breach of cloud software affected the operations of multiple N.W.T. school boards last year.

In March, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced more than $40 billion in investment in the North, with a focus on military infrastructure as well as developing transportation routes that will connect the country.

Walshe said growing federal investment is raising interest among those looking to access and manipulate computer networks.

“From a cyber security perspective, threat actors are looking at and could use cyber methods to be able to know and get insight and understand that investment in the North to be able to use it to their advantage.”

Walshe said the sensors protect users’ privacy and identify suspicious activity without reading emails or documents.

However, some have raised concerns over the way in which CSE operates and handles the information it collects.

Intelligence Commissioner Simon Noël highlighted the “improper” sharing of information with international partners between 2020 and 2023 in which data pertaining to Canadians had not been removed.

More than a decade ago the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of CSE’s electronic surveillance operations.

“There’s a real problem with not recognizing that it's not just the contents of our communications that we have an interest in privacy in but also our physical movements, which can be tracked by metadata, and the fact that we are communicating with others and who we are communicating with, those [people] are also part of metadata," said Aislin Jackson, a lawyer with the civil liberties association.

“Metadata can be incredibly revealing and it's not enough to say we respect privacy because we are not touching the content, even if that’s true.”

The Northwest Territories Office of the Chief Information Officer referred a request for comment to CSE.

A spokesperson for the Yukon government said a variety of vendors and partners help protect government networks, including the cyber centre, but would say what tools, technologies or systems the government uses.

The Nunavut government’s informatics planning and services branch did not respond to a request from comment.

Niles Niemuth has more than a decade of experience in digital news. He has reported and edited stories covering politics, public affairs, labour and community issues in Canada and the United States. He holds a master's degree in history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. You can reach him at niles.niemuth@cbc.ca.