Universities targeted by state-sponsored hackers looking for intellectual property

In a recent CBC article, reporter Casey Stranges writes that state-sponsored hackers are targeting some Canadian universities with the intent of stealing intellectual property. A Communications Security Establishment spokesperson told CBC that “programs from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea” pose the “greatest strategic cyber threats to Canada” and will likely continue to target specific sectors to facilitate their domestic economic development. Laurentian University Chief Information Officer Luc Roy said that Laurentian has been targeted with innocuous-seeming ploys to get mining research data. To address any future attempts, the university is taking actions such as increasing its security with multi-factor authentication and implementing 24/7 monitoring of network access. “To be honest, we have to take a stronger approach and have mandatory training,” said Roy.