Russia-aligned hackers pose threat to Canada energy sector: Agency

(Reuters) — Russia-aligned hackers could seek to disrupt Canada’s powerful oil and natural gas sector, especially as Ottawa is a strong backer of Ukraine, a Canadian spy agency said Wednesday.

The Communications Security Establishment signals intelligence agency said Russia had repeatedly deployed destructive cyberattacks against its adversaries as geopolitical crises escalate.

“We assess there is an even chance of a disruptive incident in the oil and gas sector in Canada caused by Russia-aligned actors, due to their higher tolerance for risk, the increase in their numbers and activity, as well as the number of vulnerable targets in the sector overall,” it said in a threat assessment.

Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer. CSE said the oil and gas sector employs about 600,000 people and accounted for 5% of gross domestic product.

CSE said the most likely target for cyberattacks by pro-Russian hackers was operational technology networks that monitor and control large industrial assets.

“It is difficult to overstate the importance of the oil and gas sector to national security because much of our critical

infrastructure depends on oil and gas products,” it said.