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Canada report finds cyber threat activities targeting elections on the rise worldwide – JURIST

A report from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security published Wednesday found that cyberattacks targeting elections are increasing worldwide and are now more likely to be seen during Canada’s next ballot.According to the report, the proportion of elections targeted by cyberattacks has increased from 10 percent in 2015 to 26 percent in 2022. Approximately 25 percent and 35 percent of countries being targeted by these attacks from 2015 to 2022 are NATO and OECD countries, respectively.The report says Russia and China are responsible for most of the cyberattacks that have taken place since 2021. The most common activities carried out by the Russian and Chinese governments are attempts to overwhelm election authority websites, access voters’ private information and scan online election systems for vulnerabilities.The report also found that cyberattacks are becoming increasingly difficult to track, with most instances remaining unattributed. Emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence are now being used to create and spread fake content in service of these attacks.Incidents of cyberattacks targeting democratic processes have become prevalent in recent years. In 2020, the UK Intelligence and Security Committee found that Russia had meddled with the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. In August this year, the UK Electoral Commission found that it had been the subject of a complex cyberattack in 2022, where the attacker accessed the country’s electoral registers and email system.