China, Russia and Iran will “most likely” use artificial intelligence in an attempt to disrupt the next federal elections in Canada, a new assessment of the Establishment of Communications Security Le Canada said, but it is unlikely to undermine the overall integrity of the vote.
The annual cyberrencic report to Canadian democracy, Released on Thursday, said that cybercriminals linked to these countries will most likely use generative tools and methods of AI as Deepfakes to spread the disinformation “designed to sow division among Canadians and push stories conducive to the interests of foreign states”.
Canadian politicians and political parties will probably be targeted with phishing scams and hacking and flight operations to sow discord, according to the report.
“We assess that RPC, Russia and Iran will most likely use AI compatible tools to try to interfere with the democratic process of Canada before and in the 2025 elections,” said ESC report and its Canadian cybersecurity center, using the acronym of the People’s Republic of China.
“However, we are very likely to assess that hostile actors put a destructive cyber attack against electoral infrastructure, such as the attempt to paralyze telecommunications systems on election day, outside of imminent or direct armed conflicts.”
The report also highlights Canadian public figures in the “increased risk”, especially women and LGBTQ2 +people, faced with deep pornography. Such content can dissuade people from presenting themselves to political functions and will continue to grow tirelessly without appropriate regulation, he warns.
“In addition, we probably assess that at least one opportunity, that the content has been sown to deliberately sabotage the campaign of a candidate who presents himself to his functions,” said the report.
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The final report of the Federal Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference published last month said that disinformation is the greatest threat to Canadian democracy. He said that the rise in artificial intelligence was at the origin of this evaluation.
The CSE report said that improvements in quality, affordability and accessibility of generative AI technology have increased the use of these tools to target elections in the world.
The agency said that more than a quarter of all elections between 2o23 and 2024 have seen attempts at interference and influence using AI, compared to a single identified in the previous two years.
He underlined several cyber incidents in the American presidential election of last year, including the Deepfakes of candidates and the hacking of the campaign of American president Donald Trump by actors supported by Iran, as notable examples.
Agencies have said that China and Russia were behind most campaigns compatible with AI against elections in the world in the past two years – while noting that they were unable to attribute the majority of these campaigns to specific actors – and will continue to be in the future.
The deep buttocks and the materials generated by foreign actors are generally amplified by “actors or involuntary of the targeted state”, he said, noting that this material generated by a foreigner does not gain much traction by himself.
“The CSE is ready to lead foreign cyber operations to defend our country against hostile threats, if necessary. At the same time, Canadians can help protect democracy by critically thinking about the information they see online, “CSE chief Caroline Xavier said in a press release accompanying the report.
At the same time, the agency said that AI was also used to help foreign states analyze the data collected from targeted systems more quickly thanks to mass hacking operations.
“The nation states, in particular the PRC, undertake massive data collection campaigns, collecting billions of data on democratic politicians, public figures and citizens around the world,” said the report.
“The progress of predictive AI allows human analysts to quickly question and analyze these data. We probably assess that these states acquire a better understanding of democratic political environments accordingly, “he added, and almost certainly improves their capacities to carry out targeted influence and spy campaigns.”
A threat bulletin released on Monday Through the Canadian Cybersecurity Center warned that Cyber-Actors sponsored by China aimed at all levels of the Canadian government, including federal, provincial, municipal and indigenous institutions.
He noted that federal government agencies had been compromised by RPC cyber-menace actors more than 20 times in recent years, and have warned an activity of “almost constant recognition” by China against Canadian government systems.
“Together, CPR cyber-actors have both the volume of resources and sophistication to simultaneously pursue several government objectives in Canada,” said the bulletin.
The investigation into foreign interference intervened after Global News and other media reported on the allegedly repeated attempts of actors such as China to mingle in Canadian elections and democratic institutions. The final report confirmed that several attempts at alleged interference have actually occurred.
Since then, the government has launched new measures to monitor and alert the public to attempts at foreign interference, including a working group that supervises threat elections.
Last month, the liberal leadership campaign of Chrystia Freeland was warned of a disinformation campaign sponsored by the Chinese broadcasting false articles about him on WhatsApp.
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