Canada’s defence and intelligence agencies are undergoing an important cultural shift. They are increasingly embracing the idea of exploiting the full potential of technology in support of their mission. There is a clear recognition that technology-based innovation is vital to staying one step ahead of potential threats to our national security and we’re seeing more government and military organizations put cloud, AI and machine learning technologies at the core of their defence strategy.

The evolving landscape of global threats

Defending against cyber threats is a complex, ever evolving and never-ending challenge. This past September, we released the Microsoft Digital Defense Report illustrating how threat actors are increasingly sophisticated in their techniques and what organizations and agencies can do to defend against them.

Looking at the data and signals from the cross-company teams, one area that came into sharp focus was nation state threats. Defined as cyber threat activity that originates in a particular country with the apparent intent of furthering national interests, nation state attacks represent some of the most advanced and persistent threat activity Microsoft tracks. These threat actors seek to collect trade secrets and intellectual property for a number of reasons, which can include accelerating the growth of their own domestic industries, advancing a military program, or determining how advanced an adversarial nation’s weapons or technology capabilities are. Government organizations are among the top targeted industry sectors with threat actors specifically focusing on military institutions, foreign ministries and national legislatures.

An ally to the defence and intelligence community

At Microsoft, we are focused on delivering world-class capability and digital transformation to the Canadian and international allied defence community. It is our goal to advance their mission, and we do this by helping to keep critical data safe and ensuring compliance while delivering capabilities through a secure hybrid cloud infrastructure. When thinking about how an agency may want to deliver trusted and secure infrastructure and services, it can take several different shapes. This includes:

• Delivering secure access to hyperscale clouds​ to modernize infrastructure for improved access, security, scalability and flexibility.
• Distributing cloud enabled capabilities to the tactical edge​ enabling forward deployed forces to digitally conduct reconnaissance.
• Extending networks and cloud capabilities with 5G and space connectivity to help meet your mission in a variety of environments.

Making cybersecurity a part of your mission

As more defence and intelligence agencies focus on cyber threats, there are also steps they can take to protect their information domain and grow cyber force capabilities including:

• Implementing Zero Trust to help defend the integrity of the mission against advanced threats. Microsoft’s approach to Zero Trust involves leveraging technology from across our stack, integrating, coordinating and synchronizing it through policies, dynamic risk assessments and conditional access policies. We combine all of this with telemetry and monitoring.
• Modernizing Security Operations Centres to help protect military data and information shared across defence and intelligence networks from cyber threats. A Modern Security Operations Center (SOC) environment needs massive scale and elasticity, and built-in machine learning and AI, that frees your security operations personnel from managing infrastructure and provides the ability for them to focus instead on monitoring and responding to alerts.
• Delivering cybersecurity assessments, training and ranges for improved infrastructure security and agility without exposing network vulnerabilities.

According to Kate Maxwell, Chief Technology Officer, Defense & Intelligence for Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector, information is helping our defence customers get ahead of their adversaries, so it’s critical these agencies have extensive security measures in place to keep their data safe against the rapidly evolving global threat landscape. With over 40 years experience in serving defence and intelligence agencies and the most comprehensive set of compliance and security solutions, we remain dedicated to driving digital innovation and transformation that empowers agencies and protects national security.

For more information on cybersecurity in defence and intelligence, please visit Defense and Intelligence | Microsoft Industry

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The accelerated digital transformation in response to COVID-19 has moved the world online. People are working remotely, doing medical appointments virtually, socializing and participating in community life online – and the list goes on. The adoption of innovative technology has bridged the gap and enabled many critical services to remain open; it has also generated an unprecedented amount of data, which is being collected and processed by organizations with disparate privacy policies, and as a result, consumers, rightfully, have heightened concerns.

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the Victoria Privacy & Security Conference along with more than 1,000 security and privacy professionals from around the world. This event brought thought leaders together at a unique moment in time – the pandemic has demonstrated the indispensable value of data while also revealing the need for a more robust and permanent governance framework that facilitates data sharing and establishes public trust in how data is collected and used. In their keynote address, Julie Brill, Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft CVP, and Deputy General Counsel of Global Privacy and Regulatory Affairs, and Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, explored this topic and shared their perspectives on how individuals view the protection of their personal information, how organizations set their strategic priorities and the development of regional privacy laws and its impact globally.

Privacy Learnings from COVID-19

As Kosseim poignantly stated, COVID-19 has created a single, unifying urgency that has brought together the international community, “It’s sparking collaborations across organizations, sectors and jurisdictions like never seen before to facilitate data sharing and deployment of new technologies to accelerate our understanding of how to prevent the spread of the virus and how to treat its debilitating impacts.”

Data was instrumental in solving many of the problems that have arisen from the crisis, from contact tracing, to treating patients, to vaccine development.

“As one of many examples in this space, Microsoft is involved in helping other companies develop exposure notification systems for cellphones. We felt it was important to articulate the principles around the use of that data,” said Brill. “We developed principles and we said that in the context of exposure notifications that very sensitive personal information should be collected with meaningful consent; it should only be used for public health purposes; it shouldn’t be shared without consent unless it’s being shared in the context of public health. These principles did help bolster the kind of trust that people need whenever their sensitive data is in use.”

Even though these digital solutions were being developed in a time of urgent need, preserving privacy is critical and these solutions still need to meet the high standards of transparency and accountability that we demanded before the pandemic. In addition to being transparent about the reason for collecting data, what data is collected and how long it is kept, we must ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to secure the data. This includes de-identification, encryption, rotating and random identifiers, decentralized identities or similar measures to protect people’s data from harmful exposure and hacking attempts.

The Prospects for Privacy Laws

As Brill highlighted, the COVID-19 crisis required data to be unlocked in a responsible way, however, without a base-line privacy legislation, many companies did not know how to proceed because they didn’t understand the guardrails around responsible data use and protection.

“What we have yet to develop are appropriate governance frameworks to oversee the timely and flexible data sharing arrangements with the private sector – particularly for public good or data-for-good initiatives,” said Kosseim. “These frameworks have to be more open to public scrutiny than they traditionally have been in the past and they have to ensure responsible treatment of data in accordance not only with privacy standards, but with broader societal concepts: fairness, accountability, transparency.”

Policy legislation is one side of the coin, the other is public acceptance. Building trust with citizens will be equally important and it starts with ensuring AI systems are developed responsibly and in ways that warrant people’s trust. At Microsoft, we’ve established the Office of Responsible AI, which sets company-wide rules for AI through the implementation of our governance and public policy work. As part of this, our senior leadership rely on the Aether Committee, and the local Responsible AI team I lead, to make recommendations on responsible AI issues, technologies, processes and best practices. The Aether committee’s working groups also undertake research and development and provide advice on rising questions, challenges and opportunities. And this informs our work with customers; we provide resources for them to establish principles and a governance model that ensures they are building trust and collecting, storing and using data in a responsible way.

What’s Next

We are facing an exciting time for privacy reform in Canada. According to Brill, over the next 5 years, we can expect an evolving regulatory landscape that will involve more privacy laws and more in-depth laws that will be updated to meet the current environment. In Ontario, Kosseim’s team will be focused on a set of strategic priorities that may include digital service delivery, transparency and open government, responsible use of data for good, access privacy and youth, next generation law enforcement and trust in virtual health.

“In five years, my hope is that we’ll be sitting here discussing what we managed to accomplish in the strategic areas we will have selected,” said Kosseim. “The Holy grail is if we can bring about the cultural change needed to build a sustainable trust and confidence in using and sharing data, in ways that can really help advance society’s broader objectives – economic, health, social, etc.”

For more information on how Microsoft’s cloud services comply with Canadian policy, regulatory and legislative requirements, visit Compliance Resources for Canada. And, visit CISO Central for workshops, training and information on Zero Trust security and compliance.

Interested in continuing the conversation? Mark your calendar and join me at Assure 2021, Microsoft Canada’s premier thought leadership event for privacy, risk, compliance, and legal leaders and professionals, on April 27, 2021.

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The accelerated digital transformation that took place in response to the global pandemic demonstrates the limitless opportunities for organizations to transform their operations and improve results through innovation. That can mean anything from the development of new products which were previously unimaginable, to improved efficiencies and better service delivery.

But sometimes, the stakes are so much higher – as I was recently reminded when speaking on a panel at C4ISR and Beyond 2021 with senior commanders from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

“On any given day, the homelands are at risk,” said Brigadier-General Greg Smith, underscoring the need to use every technological advantage possible in maintaining our defensive edge.

Col Robyn Hulan, Canadian Team Lead on NORAD’s (North American Aerospace Defence Command) Pathfinder initiative, said “NORAD is Canada’s defence business. There’s a tremendous opportunity to engage with our industry partners and make things better for the defence of North America.”

High stakes, indeed.

This is an exciting time with respect to the confluence of national defence and technology. Twenty years ago, I was a communications officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and I can tell you the degree of technology adaptation and innovation taking place today is a quantum leap forward from where it was at that time. And there is an appetite to do more.

Canada’s military is undergoing an important cultural shift, where the idea of exploiting the full potential of technology in support of its mission is increasingly embraced. There is clear recognition that technology-based innovation is essential to staying one step ahead of potential threats to our security.

We can now put cloud, Artificial Intelligence and related technologies into the hands of those closest to the mission at hand. We can extend data gathering into the field via aircraft, vehicles and even backpacks, to collect and synthesize data to give a fuller understanding of the environment, through low-cost IoT linked sensors.  Today, more than ever before, this data can be transmitted and shared across joint and combined communities using advanced communications.

Private 5G networks and whitespace WiFi now enable organizations like the CAF to broadcast wi-fi like signals over distances as large as 10 to 15 kilometres. Covering the far north with low earth orbit satellites is providing gateways to cloud services, building on the promise of ubiquitous communications regardless of location.

Curated data can then be actioned in a mixed reality application, putting that virtual world as a digital twin on top of the physical to make better sense of a focused mission and the broader theatre of operations. For example, the Royal Canadian Navy is using Microsoft HoloLens2 and Kognitiv Spark’s Remote Spark solution to improve maintenance and repairs aboard RCN vessels.

The democratization of Machine Learning and AI means it is no longer merely the domain of the data analyst – it now helps us be a force multiplier, to enable everyone contributing to our missions in previously impossible ways.

And finally, cyber has become a domain in its own right, with combatants vying for information superiority. By protecting and securing data and delivering it to the right people in the right locations at the right time, better decisions can be made in support of the mission.  Denying the same of our adversaries provides a significant advantage for our operations.

I came away from the discussion enthused by the receptivity of the Canadian Armed Forces toward further innovation.

And the digital transformation is already well-underway. The CAF is leading important initiatives through the IDEAs program and other leading-edge activities to explore technology innovation. One fundamental key for success will be to look beyond the technology and explore opportunities for transformation. This is a challenging conversation across all organizations – and establishing the right tone requires a top-down approach. The senior command must indicate why there is a compelling reason to change, ensure that the entire community understands why that change is necessary and the kinds of outcomes it can deliver.

It also doesn’t have to start in mission-critical areas and innovation experiences can be adopted from other sectors. For example, in the nuclear energy sector, new technological innovation skills can be applied in the human resources department before applying similar thinking in the reactor operation. In another example: Transport Canada has created an innovation hub and invited industry partners as well as innovation champions to incubate new innovations in a safe space.  This enabled real world projects such as the program to apply AI to improve aircraft safety through the more targeted interdiction of suspect shipping containers. Digital transformation has even had a tremendous impact in the agri-food sector where they have been able to reduce DNA analysis time from eight months to eight hours.

All of this demonstrates the possibilities for defence applications – to better protect all of North America – and the CAF appears more than ready to embrace them.

Where do you go from here?

Download this e-book, Digital Transformation for Defence and Intelligence, to learn about using defence technology to optimize budgets and enable digital readiness.

Discover more on how AI and cloud computing solutions are used in defence and intelligence operations.

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This event provided the opportunity to hear from change agents like the honorable Amrik Virk, Minister, BC Ministry of Technology, Innovation & Citizens’ Services in prepared sessions and then explored the digital transformation themes in 6 Integrated Round Table discussions moderated by government leaders. In his opening remarks, the Minister Virk touched upon digital transformation throughout BC programs as well as the government’s prioritization around using technology to optimize government services. He took the opportunity to highlight the service transformation evident in the BC Developers’ Exchange (https://bcdevexchange.org/), a trial of a new approach for government to have its software requirements met without the overhead traditionally associated with the RFP process.

Other speakers emphasized the government’s focus on putting the citizen at the center to simplify their interactions. The BC Services Card was used as an example where a common credential has helped unify service delivery and simplify citizens’ interactions with the government. One of the panels explored opportunities for optimizing operations through interjurisdictional work in Canada. By leveraging pan-Canadian approaches, open data and common standards there are opportunities to reuse and grow common solutions across communities. The panel sessions concluded with an exploration of how privacy impacts innovation, with a follow-on discussion on how privacy can provide a foundation for innovation in service delivery.

Of course, the digital transformation that is characteristic of the fourth industrial revolution, in which we find ourselves, has its foundation firmly established in hyper scale public cloud services. And so, at the Microsoft round table we explored the subject: “The Next Wave: Public Cloud Models.” Vibrant conversations were held throughout the day with areas of focus ranging from the business value of cloud to specific details of how enterprise cloud services, like those provided from Microsoft datacenters in Canada, can help address British Columbia’s privacy and security requirements. We shared many stories on how Canadian government’s have begun their transformation, such as NAV Canada, City of Regina, Region of Peel, City of Brampton, CBC Elections coverage and many stories globally.

Many of the visitors to our Public Cloud Models discussions were eager to move forward and explore opportunities for service transformation using the cloud and were looking for assistance to get started.

The Microsoft Consulting Services team has developed an exclusive ACCELERATE Digital Transformation workshop developed for Governments and Ministries to help establish their digital transformation strategy, roadmap, and action plan. Through this workshop, we help Ministries evaluate ideas and develop new ones to improve their digital strategy and transformation plan by defining scenarios; illustrating and exploring transition barriers; investigating transformative tactics; considering business, experiential, and technology issues; and educating the decision makers. For more information on this workshop, please contact Shelley Staples: BC Public Sector Services Executive (604) 616-4698 shstap@Microsoft.com

After a full day of stimulating and thought provoking discussions, it became very clear that government ministries in British Columbia have a digital transformation mindset and are eager to continue to demonstrate Canadian leadership in service innovation.

For more information on how Microsoft can help Governments Digitally Transform, visit: http://microsoft.ca/empowering

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