Canada bans Chinese app WeChat and Russian antivirus Kaspersky from its officials to protect its government data

2023-11-01 15:37:52

MONDE – Canada bans WeChat and Kaspersky. The federal government announced that its officials will no longer be allowed to use or install the Chinese messaging application and Russian antivirus, “so that Government of Canada networks and data remain secure and protected”. The decision, announced by the Treasury Board, the body responsible for managing public finances, came into force on Monday October 30, 2023. The government explains that it has not “no reason to believe his information was compromised” and justifies this measure by the “clear risks” of these applications.

“Starting October 30, 2023, the WeChat and Kaspersky suite of applications will be removed from government-issued mobile devices. Additionally, users of these devices will no longer be able to download these applications in the future.announced Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board. “The decision to remove and block the WeChat and Kaspersky applications was made to ensure that Government of Canada networks and data remain secure and protected”she added in a communiqué broadcast Monday October 30.

“Disinformation campaigns” on WeChat

WeChat is a social network, messaging and payment application. Developed and marketed by the Chinese company Tencent, it is one of the most popular applications in the world, with more than 2 billion active users. As for Kaspersky, the antivirus is published by the eponymous company, founded by Russian entrepreneur Eugene Kaspersky and offering cybersecurity software, anti-spyware, anti-spam and other tools.

The federal government reports no reports of espionage or foreign interference. In the Treasury Board press release, it is explained that the decision “has been taken to ensure that Government of Canada networks and data remain secure and protected and are consistent with the approach of our partners abroad”. Ottawa explains that nothing suggests that “his information is compromised”despite “the risks associated with using these applications” and to their “data collection methods”.

However, suspicions of foreign interference for the benefit of China, Russia and even India, in a diplomatic crisis with Canada, pushed Ottawa to launch an investigation. “We regularly monitor potential threats and intervene immediately to mitigate risks”explains the same press release.

Last week, Canada, which has already banned TikTok from its employees’ smartphones in February 2023, announced that it had detected an online Chinese propaganda campaign targeting elected officials and members of the government. The campaign was allegedly carried out from August to September and included deep fake videos to discredit the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and MPs, particularly the Conservatives. Ottawa claimed that this propaganda is “linked to the People’s Republic of China” and aimed to “silence criticism of the Communist Party”.

In August, Global Affairs Canada had already revealed that a disinformation operation targeted Conservative MP Michael Chong. This time, the WeChat application is openly cited. False information on the identity of the MP would have been distributed on this Chinese social network.

China reacts, WeChat and Kaspersky still authorized for the general public

Beijing has reacted to Canada’s decision to ban WeChat from its officials. “The ban was issued without concrete evidence. This is a typical move to abuse national power under the guise of data security, to unreasonably suppress businesses in specific countries.”a declared Tuesday October 31, 2023 a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin.

If the Biden administration abandoned Donald Trump’s efforts to ban WeChat, the Kaspersky antivirus has already been banned since 2017, due to suspicions of links between Eugene Kaspersky and the Russian government. Canada is also not the second country to ban antivirus since the Netherlands accused the Russian company of spying on behalf of the Kremlin in 2018.

The Canadian decision nevertheless raises questions among cybersecurity specialists. The banning of Chinese applications like WeChat or TikTok is, in their opinion, “understandable” due to “doubt” linked to the collection of information carried out by China. The case of Kaspersky, however, raises concerns: many administration computers and information systems were until now protected by the Russian firm’s software.

Ottawa specifies that “the decision to use a social media app or mobile platform” by the general public “is a personal choice”. “However, the Canadian Center for Cyber ​​Security at the Communications Security Establishment provides advice and guidelines regarding the use of personal social media accounts and security issues to consider when using social media in an organization”concludes the press release.