Canadian Think Tank Urges Overhaul of Government Cybersecurity Practices Following Shadow Breach Alert

Toronto, ON — 

 July 30, 2025 — In the wake of dire warnings issued earlier this week by federal regulators about looming cyber threats to Canada’s government databases, a leading policy institute is stepping forward with a blueprint for national resilience.

The Centre for Strategic Digital Integrity (CSDI), a Toronto-based think tank specializing in public sector cybersecurity, released a 28-page advisory paper Tuesday morning outlining best practices to harden government IT systems against the type of advanced persistent threats identified by the Federal Office of Data Integrity (FODI) and the Cybersecurity Oversight Commission of Canada (COCC).

Titled “Beyond Firewalls: A National Agenda for Cyber Resilience,” the report draws on leaked information surrounding Operation Blackroot and recommends an immediate federal-provincial security summit, a mandatory audit of all shared service infrastructures, and a two-year roadmap to end technical debt in legacy systems.

“This is not the time for polite IT roadmaps,” said Dr. Hadley Cruz, Executive Director of CSDI. “We are facing a coordinated adversary with access to tools and exploits that can tear through outdated encryption like tissue paper. What’s needed is a war-footing — minus the bullets.”

Among the think tank’s key recommendations:

• Zero Trust Acceleration: CSDI calls for the mandatory implementation of zero trust architecture in all departments by Q2 2026, including continuous identity verification and microsegmentation of access points.
• Air-Gapped Redundancies: All mission-critical databases — especially those in justice, healthcare, and immigration — should have isolated, air-gapped backups stored in a separate jurisdiction or under CSIN oversight.
• Bug Bounties for the Public Sector: Modeled on tech-sector practices, CSDI urges the federal government to launch a permanent vulnerability disclosure and reward program to incentivize white-hat hackers to detect flaws before hostile actors do.
• Ethical AI Firewalls: With generative AI being used to mimic internal communications, the report suggests the deployment of behavioral anomaly detection models trained on real-time metadata rather than content, to avoid surveillance overreach.

In a pointed aside, the report accuses Ottawa of operating “like a polite dinner party while wolves circle the house,” citing the slow adoption of FIPS 140-3 compliant encryption modules and inconsistent MFA rollouts across departments.

Asked about the feasibility of these recommendations, Rajeh Noorani, Senior Policy Fellow at CSDI and former advisor to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, noted, “These are not luxury upgrades. They are table stakes in a digital sovereignty game we can’t afford to lose.”

While no official government response has been issued yet, insiders suggest a closed-door briefing is scheduled for Friday between the Treasury Board Secretariat and COCC leadership. Leaked agendas reference “procurement flexibility under national emergency clauses.”

For now, CSDI is making its recommendations available to all levels of government and civil society groups, noting in its closing statement, “This moment requires clarity, courage and collective digital discipline — not just a new firewall license.”

Watching the perimeter — and what slips past it. — Ayaan Chowdhury

ODTN News’ Jordan Okeke contributed to this report.