Canadian Cyber News Rewire - 31/01/26

Wiring you into the cyber news the week ending January 31

The Weekly New Rewire is a survey of cyber or adjacent news stories that I read this week (or recently). Please leave a comment if you think I missed anything.

Editor Notes:

• We are hitting the head of the first month of the revival of News Rewire. I have created a short survey to help determine when the best day to release the News Rewire. I have been releasing the News Rewire on Saturdays, but want to hear from you if I should change this: Take the survey here.

• It appears amid resolving my DNS issues my email got disrupted, so if you sent me an email this past week please resend.

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Canadian News

• Canada’s political parties want to be exempt from provincial privacy laws

• Russian military intelligence hackers likely behind December cyberattacks on Polish energy targets, researchers say

• Vancouver-based Hootsuite CEO says ICE contract will stand as long as agency honours terms and conditions

• Calian Mobilizes Initial $100 Million to Accelerate Canada’s C5ISRT Defence Capabilities

  • Calian outlines new $100 million platform to bolster Canadian defence businesses

• Y Combinator is no longer investing in Canadian startups

  • “YC now only backs firms registered in the U.S., Cayman Islands or Singapore, according to its standard deal terms. Canada was previously listed as an acceptable jurisdiction, but was removed in November 2025.”

• Ottawa is subsidizing a tech firm that provides wiretapping tools to ICE

  • “In December, the Canadian government gave $1 million to Ottawa’s JSI Telecom to commercialize AI-driven data analytics. JSI, a wiretaps and investigation support firm, had a banner year in U.S. government sales in 2025, including a big new contract with ICE.”

• Major Canada Computers Breach: Customers Warned to Cancel Cards

  • A classic case of someone trying to report a breach or cyber security problem to the company, but being ignored until the individual goes public.

• How to encrypt your PC’s disk without giving the keys to Microsoft

• Parliamentary petition to require secure coding in federal software

  • I signed it and so should you.

• Canadian Cyber Security Network released its State of Cybersecurity

  in Canada report.

• Cybersecurity bill won’t be used to kick people off internet, minister says

• Canada deal on Chinese EVs shows trade ‘trumped national security’: experts

  • If you’re so concerned about Chinese EV cyber security, then you should be just as concerned about North American vehicle cyber security. It’s not just a Chinese EV problem, it is almost all new vehicles with digital systems. In fact, this is really an internet of things problem.

• Canadian Centre for Cyber Security releases Ransomware Outlook 2025 to 2027

• Canada–Japan Keihanna Global Acceleration Program—Spring 2026

  • “The NRC IRAP, in partnership with Japan’s Keihanna Research Complex, is pleased to invite Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to submit an expression of interest to participate in a 5-minute pitch event to seek co-innovation partnerships with world-class Japanese corporations. Selected Canadian SMEs may be invited to meetings in Osaka, Japan, to solidify their partnerships with interested Japanese corporations.”

• Why it’s so hard to get a tech job in Canada right now

  • “Layoffs and a hiring slowdown have combined to create nightmarish conditions for some job seekers in the Canadian tech sector.”

  • It is not going to get easier anytime soon. Training academies/schools are already going under.

• Manulife says your life insurance isn’t important enough to be reviewed by human

• Massive AI Chat App Leaked Millions of Users Private Conversations

• More criminals are using AI for ransomware attacks, cybersecurity centre warns

• Rachel Clark is taking on cybersecurity’s scalability problem

• Catalyst Executive Director, Charles Finlay flags US interference concerns, urges security and speed in Al adoption

  • Original paywalled article here

• Digital Government Leaders Summit 2026: Working together for a better tomorrow

• Linus Tech Tips: Explaining the RAM Crisis in 60 Seconds

• Payment processors were against CSAM until Grok started making it

• Canada’s cybersecurity startups have no room for error

• House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts holds hearing on the 2025 Auditor General Report on Cyber Security of Government Networks and Systems

  • I plan to write an overview/analysis of this meeting in February.

• CCCS Head Rajiv Gupta: Cyber crime and ransomware becoming ‘most impactful’ threat to Canadians

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Canada Cyber Watch

While not all attacks are reported or receive media attention, any notable or open-source cyber attacks on Canadian organizations and any relevant cyber threat intelligence to Canada will be posted here. I only list the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s (CCCS) alerts here, not all advisories; follow the full feed here.

• Hackers Use ‘rn’ Typo Trick to Impersonate Marriott in New Phishing Attack

• Clop ransomware group claims to have targeted multiple Canadian entities

• Microsoft Office Zero-Day (CVE-2026-21509) - Emergency Patch Issued for Active Exploitation

• Diverse Threat Actors Exploiting Critical WinRAR Vulnerability CVE-2025-8088

• Hackers Say They’ve Hacked Match Group, Maker of Hinge, OkCupid

• Wave of ShinyHunters vishing attacks spreading fast

• CCCS Alert - AL25-019 - Vulnerabilities impacting Fortinet products - FortiCloud SSO Login Authentication Bypass - CVE-2025-59718 and CVE-2025-59719 - Update 2

• Aisuru botnet sets new record with 31.4 Tbps DDoS attack

• eScan confirms update server breached to push malicious update

  • Major supply chain attack.

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Research and Op-Eds

• Volt Typhoon’s long shadow - IISS

  • Volt Typhoon is one of the top cyber threats to Canada

• The Primes Aren’t the Real Bottleneck in U.S. Weapons Production - War on the Rocks

  • Although this is focused on US weapons production, a lot of its discussion applies to Canada. HOWEVER, I dislike the framing of this as if there is no issue with the primes. There is blame to go around to everyone in the defence industry.

• Rethinking TikTok Regulation in Canada - CIGI

  • Policy Brief by Matt Malone and Oren Tsur

• The Trump Administration’s Cyber Strategy Fundamentally Misunderstands China’s Threat - Council on Foreign Relations

  • New US cyber security strategy is likely to emphasize offensive cyber operations.

• Is America’s Cyber Weakness Self-Inflicted? - War on the Rocks

  • I love this article, a must read.

• Canadian Data Protection and Cybersecurity in an Era of Diminishing North American Cooperation

  • A good policy brief by two Balsillie School MA students.

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United States News

• DISA moving out on Mission Network-as-a-Service effort in 2026

  • “DISA will prioritize an effort to unify all of the combatant commands’ networks worldwide into a single, cloud-based platform to improve security and interoperability.”

• 5 things to know about the TikTok deal

• The Chair for the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection of the House Committee on Homeland Security sent letters to LinkedIn, Amazon Web Services and Palo Alto Networks to testify on threats of North Korean IT workers.

• US Treasury Cancels Contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton

  • “Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data…” Data breach cited as reason for US Treasury to cancel all current contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton.

  • Theoretically a similar action could happen against a company under CPCSC where a company could lose all their contracts based on a singular failure.

• Amazon’s internet-beaming satellites are bright enough to disrupt astronomical research, study finds

• Salesforce lands $5.6B Army contract for data analytics, cloud capabilities

  • The three key technologies for future US and CAF military operations are cloud, data analytics, and AI/ML.

• Trump’s acting cyber chief uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT

• Pentagon leaders expect Cybercom 2.0 to help thwart Chinese actors ‘living off the land’

• Google Aims Knockout Blow at Chinese Company Linked to Massive Cyber Weapon

• Software stocks fall premarket as Microsoft and SAP results weigh

  • “Software shares fell sharply in premarket U.S. trading Thursday after updates from Microsoft and SAP raised fresh questions about the durability of cloud and AI spending.”

• Here is the User Guide for ELITE, the Tool Palantir Made for ICE

• Silicon Valley’s Favorite New AI Agent Has Serious Security Flaws

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European Union & United Kingdom News

• UK plans sweeping overhaul of policing amid surge in online crimes

• Saudi Arabia ordered to pay £3m to London dissident over Pegasus spying

  • Pegasus spyware is a particular favorite amongst authoritarian governments

• Russian Attack on Polish Power Sector

  • New DynoWiper Malware Used in Attempted Sandworm Attack on Polish Power Sector

  • Attack Against Poland’s Grid Disrupted Communication Devices at About 30 Sites

  • Polish Grid Systems Targeted in Cyberattack Had Little Security, Per New Report

• China hacked Downing Street phones for years

• Dutch cloud service “within reach”; MP’s demand gov’t action amid U.S. concerns

• The UK paid £4.1 million for a bookmarks site

  • I was waiting for a good article on the UK’s AI Skills Hub debacle. I feel like this encapsulates it well.

• UK leaders warned country risks ‘absorbing’ cyber and hybrid attacks without offensive deterrence

• Data breach: FRANCE TRAVAIL fined €5 million

  • France’s data protection authority fines France Travail, the French government agency responsible for assisting unemployed with financial assistance and finding employment.

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Other International News

• Ghana to establish first cyber and electronic warfare centre - President Mahama

• Jordan’s king Orders three-Year military restructuring, focus on cyber and AI

• Starlink in Europe – US satellites, EU security, and space sovereignty

• Sri Lankan Police Report Surge in Cybercrime as Hundreds Arrested Nationwide

  • As global economies continue to fracture and poverty increases, we will see an increase in cybercrime due to its low barrier to entry and the increasing prevelance of AI tools that make it even easier to do.

• He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive

• Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla confidential files allegedly exposed in supplier breach

• France to ditch US platforms Microsoft Teams, Zoom for ‘sovereign platform’ amid security concerns

• Experts Detect Pakistan-Linked Cyber Campaigns Aimed at Indian Government Entities

• Latvia says Russia remains its top cyber threat as attacks hit record high

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Q&A

Every week, I will answer any questions that I receive through the Weekly News Rewire Slido here. Slido allows readers to anonymously submit questions they would like answered.

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