Tackling Canada’s cybersecurity challenges

The University of Waterloo's Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI) hosted its annual conference on October 10, 2024, bringing together academic and industry experts to address pressing cybersecurity issues in Canada.  

The conference panels didn’t hold back and started with an important discussion on the potential for cyberattacks and how financial institutions can safeguard customer data in this evolving digital landscape.

“The key challenge is finding the right balance between privacy and security, especially as we move toward open banking,” said Jeremy Kronick from the C.D. Howe Institute, one of Canada's leading public policy think tanks. “Ensuring proper regulation of fintechs and addressing liabilities are crucial pillars to getting that balance right.”

The conference, sponsored by Mastercard, showcased CPI’s interdisciplinary approach to research by featuring not only data security experts but also political science scholars. This diverse lineup of speakers addressed timely concerns, particularly with the upcoming U.S. election and a potential Canadian election on the horizon — highlighting the intersection of technology, policy and democratic integrity in safeguarding electoral processes.

From left: Eden Lotimer, Urs Hengartner, Nicole J. Goodman and Veronica Kitchen discuss online voting

Moderated by Dr. Veronica Kitchen, professor in the Department of Political Science at Waterloo, the second panel examined the cybersecurity vulnerabilities surrounding elections.

“We don’t need blockchain to secure digital elections,” stated Dr. Urs Hengartner, a professor at the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, referring to the technology that serves as a decentralized digital ledger for securely and transparently recording transactions across multiple computers. “Although blockchain is often touted as the solution for secure online voting, it’s simply not the answer and isn’t necessary.”

The panelists discussed strategies for enhancing Canada’s election security infrastructure to mitigate these risks and ensure the integrity of future elections. The panel also raised the option of relying on traditional, time-tested technologies, such as paper ballots, to maintain election security in an increasingly digital landscape.

“I think this discussion highlights that we don’t need to solve everything with a tech solution, sometimes the most basic technology is best,” said Dr. Nicole J. Goodman from Brock University.

One of the most highly anticipated panels of the day explored the readiness of Canada's cybersecurity infrastructure for quantum technologies.

Moderated by Dr. Michele Mosca from the Institute of Quantum Computing at Waterloo, the panel featured leading Canadian experts Nicolas Roussy Newton from BTQ Technologies, and Dr. Jesse Van Griensven, chairman of TAURIA, who opened the discussion with a presentation on the state of quantum security in Canada.

“University of Waterloo is the leading institution in Canada for tackling quantum security challenges, driving research and innovation in this field,” Van Griensven said. “However, if we don’t continue to invest our efforts and resources in this area, we risk falling behind globally and losing the lead we’ve built.”

They discussed the impending threat that quantum computing poses to current encryption standards and the need for "quantum-safe" encryption. As quantum computing becomes a reality, the panelists warned that organizations must begin preparing now to safeguard their data.

The concluding panel focused on the implications of societal surveillance for individual privacy.

“It’s a fine line between respecting individual rights and ensuring security when it comes to surveillance,” said Dr. Diogo Barradas, a Waterloo Computer Science professor whose research focuses on network security, privacy and digital forensics, with an emphasis on traffic analysis and circumventing internet censorship. “We need to find that sweet spot in our practices where we can balance both privacy and security effectively. When users are unsure whether they are being monitored, it creates a sense of uncertainty that can erode their privacy and significantly alter their behaviour.”

The event underscored the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in tackling complex cybersecurity challenges and emphasized the need for continuous innovation in the face of evolving threats.

“It was a challenge to get the right mix of speakers to address some of the key challenges facing society today. However, I think we succeeded in getting participants who were willing to engage in challenging conversations and contribute to public awareness of important issues,” Dr. Anindya Sen, a professor in Economics and acting executive director of CPI said.

Abdulrahman Diaa (left) was awarded top prize for his poster Optimizing Adaptive Attacks Against Content Watermarks for Language Models

The conference also shined a light on Waterloo graduate students, future leaders of cybersecurity research, through a poster competition sponsored and judged by Rogers. The top prize was awarded to Abdulrahman Diaa, a PhD student in Computer Science.

By addressing critical issues like open banking, quantum technologies, societal surveillance and the timely topic of election security — the 2024 CPI Annual Conference promotes the University of Waterloo’s leadership in cybersecurity research and its dedication to shaping a more secure and resilient digital future for Canada and beyond.

Photo credits: Lisa Loiselle, Office of Research