Canada puts India on cyber threat list, New Delhi calls it ‘strategic attack’ – Firstpost

Amid rising diplomatic tensions, Canada has named India among its cyber threat competitors for the first time in its National Cyber ​​Threat Assessment 2025-2026 (NCTA 2025-2026) report.

The report suggests that state-sponsored actors in India may engage in “espionage” activities against Canada, placing India fifth after China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

But New Delhi rejected the claim on Saturday, calling it another example of Ottawa’s ongoing “strategy to attack India”.

India is also mentioned in the “Geopolitically inspired non-state actors create unpredictability” trend, which exemplifies a pro-India hacktivist group claiming to deface Canadian websites and launch a brief attack on them after India was accused of involvement in the killing. Canadian citizen.

“We assess that Indian state-sponsored cyber threat actors are conducting cyber threat activity against Canadian Government networks, possibly for espionage purposes,” the report said.

India has been mentioned in discussions about the growing influence of “geopolitically inspired non-state actors”, with one example highlighting brief cyberattacks on Canadian websites by a pro-India hacktivist group.

The group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which included defacing websites, shortly after allegations emerged about India’s possible role in the murder of a Canadian citizen.

NCTA 2025-2026, which highlights the cyber threats facing individuals and organizations in Canada, was published on October 30 by the Canadian Cyber ​​Security Center (Cyber ​​Centre), Canada’s technical authority on cyber security and part of the Canadian Communications Security Establishment. (CSE). Evaluation reports are published every two years.

While India is not mentioned in the 2018, 2020 and 2023-24 National Cyber ​​Threat Assessment reports, India is mentioned along with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea under the ‘Cyber ​​threat from state enemies’ in the 2025-26 assessment ‘Introducing the state cyber threat ecosystem and Section discussing cyber threats to Canada.

“India’s leadership almost certainly aspires to build a modernized cyber program with indigenous cyber capabilities. India is likely to use its cyber program to advance national security imperatives, including espionage, counterterrorism, and efforts to enhance the country’s global status and counter narratives against India and the Indian government, the assessment report said.

“We assess that India’s cyber program is likely leveraging commercial cyber providers to enhance its operations. “We assess that Indian state-sponsored cyber threat actors are conducting cyber threat activity against Government of Canada networks, possibly for espionage purposes,” he said.

“We believe that official bilateral relations between Canada and India will likely increase Indian state-sponsored cyber threat activities against Canada,” the statement said.

CSE and its partners in Canada and the Five Eyes are adapting to cyber threats to Canada from state and non-state cyber threat actors and monitoring them as they evolve, the report said.

He added that NCTA 2025-2026 provides the Canadian public with CSE’s updated insights on state and non-state cyber threat actors conducting malicious cyber threat activity against Canada and how we assess the cyber threat landscape that will evolve over the next two years.

The report noted that Canada faces an expanding and more complex government cyber ecosystem, citing strategic adversaries, emerging cyber programs and the broader cyber ecosystem.

In ‘Emerging Cyber ​​Programs’ it was stated: “At the same time, countries such as India, which aim to become new centers of power in the global system, are building cyber programs that pose different levels of threat to Canada.” “While developing states focus their cyber efforts on domestic threats and regional rivals, they also use their cyber capabilities to track and monitor activists and dissidents living abroad,” the statement said.

The NCTA 2025-2026 also stated, “Geopolitical conflicts and tensions inspire disruptive cyber threat activity from non-state groups, often referred to as hacktivists,” and gave examples of how geopolitically motivated hacktivists often launch attacks such as distributed denial to attract attention. DDoS attacks, website defacements and data leaks from Russia and India.

“Diplomatic tensions also inspire hacktivist activity. After Canada accused India of involvement in the murder of a Canadian citizen, a pro-India hacktivist group claimed that they had defaced websites in Canada, including the Canadian Armed Forces’ public website, and carried out brief DDoS attacks on them. .

“This non-state ecosystem is dynamic and unpredictable,” he added.

The development comes as bilateral relations have deteriorated since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a year ago that Canada had credible evidence that Indian government agents were involved in the June 2023 killing of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. The charge was rejected by India as absurd.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) trashed the report.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi: “Canada has put India in another category. This classification is based on the cyber report they publish. This appears to be another example of Canada’s strategy to attack India.” Jaiswal said, “As I have already noted, its senior officials have openly admitted that they are trying to manipulate global public opinion against India, as in other cases, the accusations are nothing “It is done without evidence,” he added.

While rejecting India’s inclusion in this category, the MEA spokesperson said the accusation against India was “absolutely not true”. India argues that the real issue between the two countries is that Canada is giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian territory with impunity.

India last month expelled six Canadian diplomats and withdrew high commissioner Sanjay Verma and other “targeted” officials from Canada after vehemently denying Ottawa’s accusations.

With input from agencies.