I would like to compare cybersecurity in the United States and Canada. According to EU Cyber Direct in 2020 78% of Canadian companies were affected by a successful cyber-attack. Canada’s philosophy is that cyberspace is a free and open domain for human interaction and tools. Canada has joined with the EU in a rules-based approach to cyber governance. At the state level Canada believes the international law applied to cyber and that existing international law appropriately governs and covers the cyberspace. They have voted and advocated at international gatherings such as G7, G20, NATO, and OSCE that existing norms are well suited, and that international effort should instead be focused on fostering capability improvement rather than developing new norms.

The United States has several agreements in place with the international community and regularly contributes resources and information sharing to deter, investigate, punish, and remediate in response to cybercrime. The United States has also taken the position that international law, rules, and norms apply to cyberspace. Representatives and diplomats have emphasized Article 51 of the UN Charter which characterizes self-defense. They believe that as with other domains, cyberspace is subjected to this Article and that certain cyber-attacks could and would constitute a response in self-defense. This would be true if the attacker was a state actor or a non-state actor. Similar to Canada, the US opposes new norms and rulemaking and instead advocates for the enforcement and adoption of current rules and norms.

In recent years both countries have committed national resources for deterring and dealing with cybercrime both domestically and internationally. In National Defense doctrine both countries have put a premium emphasis on building capability and resilience. Both countries have participated in international exercises with coalition partners and allies with perhaps the United States participating in more international exercises with more partners whereas Canada has focused more efforts domestically.