By Andrew Macdonald
Frank McKenna opened a new cyber security unit at his McKenna Institute at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) on Friday (Dec 13th, 2024).
It is being called the Cybersecurity Data Attribution Centre, in Fredericton, (CDAC).
“We live in a world of explosive change. Half the world’s population is online. 650,000 new users join the internet everyday,” said McKenna in his speech. (See speech article elsewhere in this edition of The Macdonald Notebook.
In a news chat, McKenna says one of the many roles of the UNB McKenna Institute is to advocate for transforming the digital space in New Brunswick. “We are a convener on ideas. It was on that basis we engineered the centre to come to UNB. It will be part of the McKenna Institute and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security,” McKenna tells The Macdonald Notebook.
“It is all part of the computer science (faculty) at UNB,” adds McKenna.
McKenna says with an explosion of digital data, “you need guard rails around the protection of data.”
The announcement “positions us in Atlantic Canada as one of the worlds leading centres for cyber security,” adds McKenna.
The McKenna Institute is sponsoring the cyber security centre.
“The Cyber Attribution Data Centre will live within the Canadian Institute of Cybersecurity (CIC) located in the National Research Council building on the University of New Brunswick’s (UNB) Fredericton campus,” said UNB spokesperson, Kathleen McLaughlin.
Funding will allow for the use of AI data services to report cyber attacks in this country – intelligence reports which will be given to law enforcement agencies across Canada.
“A robust data centre capable of capturing, storing and analyzing” cyber attacks will be created, said the UNB spokesperson.
“The funding will also support developing comprehensive programs to train and equip the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) cyber attribution specialists,” added McLaughlin.
Funded to the tune of $10M from the federal government, the new cybersecurity office, that money will go towards staffing, and research at the McKenna Institute.
McKenna is a former premier of NB (1987-1997), and a former Ambassador to Washington, DC (2005-2006).
Cybersecurity is already a big industry in NB.
While McKenna said there are many good forces with the internet, “Unfortunately, we also know that it will be exploited by malevolent actors, whether state or individual, to pursue their destructive agendas.”
“It has been calculated that already cybercrime costs more than $3 B per year in Canada. A number magnified around the world.”
“The Government of Canada was prescient in establishing the National Cybersecurity strategy in 2018. This quickly resulted in the establishment of the Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity within CSE and the National Cybersecurity Crime Co-ordination Centre under the RCMP,” said McKenna.
“Those were critical initiatives but the strategy also envisioned a whole of society approach by supporting initiatives outside the Federal government,” he added.
“And, of course, that makes total sense. The threats are society-wide and the response must be society-wide.”
“That brings us to the announcement (Friday) to create the Cybersecurity Data Attribution Centre at the University of New Brunswick. This Centre will be AI based and will report actionable (cyber security threats)” to mainly law enforcement folks across the country.
So why New Brunswick and why UNB?
“When I was in Israel, I learned a lot about Israel’s world-leading capabilities in cybersecurity but I also learned from them how much they respect New Brunswick as another world leader in this space.”
New Brunswick has an AI Centre at the University of Moncton, an AI Data Science Institute at the University of New Brunswick and the McKenna Institute which has attracted some $70 Million in funding for digital transformation.
The UNB Faculty of Computer Science has doubled and we now have 1,000 students in Computer Science all the way up to the PhD level,” said McKenna.
“And UNB also has its own special sauce, its own secret weapon, his name is Dr. Ali Ghorbani and he has been the catalyst for this breathtaking record of accomplishment in cybersecurity.”
McKenna said New Brunswick is home to the Canadian Institute of Cybersecurity with 100 dedicated professionals, Siemens Cybersecurity Centre for Critical Infrastructure, IBM’s Client Innovation Centre, Thales New National Digital Excellence Centre as well as their Cybersecurity Ops Centre for North America.
“We have more 0than 2,000 cybersecurity students graduated in the last 5 years.”
“In all, we have some 51 organizations in the New Brunswick Cybersecurity echo system and over 400 cybersecurity companies with some 5,000 employees.”
“You might ask what is the role of the McKenna Institute in this? Very simply, the Institute was designed to digitally transform the Province of New Brunswick and having world-class cybersecurity capabilities is a critical building block in that aspiration,” added McKenna.
The federal government has given the cybersecurity centre $10m through Dominic LeBlanc.
“He is not only the Minister of Public Security. He is an indefatigable champion of all things New Brunswick and, is a proud UNB graduate,” stated McKenna.
“Our announcement (Friday) is the serendipitous result of being the right minister in the right portfolio, coming from the right place, and having the vision and drive, energy, and credibility to bring a project of this complexity and importance to fruition.”
“Dominic, you are a true friend in every sense of the word,” said McKenna.
The government is committing to fund this project up to a total of $10 million over five years.
With the ultimate goal of identifying malicious cyber actors, the CADC will gather data from a variety of sources and use the latest cyber attribution intelligence analytics. The CADC will also train and equip the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) cybersecurity specialists.
“New Brunswick is leading the way in cybersecurity. With smart investments, your federal government is building up Canada’s capacity with stronger tools and better training to keep people and businesses safe from online threats and scams,” said Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
“According to the National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026, malicious cyber threat actors present a persistent threat to Canadians’ safety and Canada’s economic prosperity and national security,” said the federal government. ‘Cybercriminals will continue to target Canadians and Canada’s critical infrastructure and essential services through fraud, scams and ransomware.”
The $10M in funds for UNB’s project will be transferred from Public Safety Canada to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) to the McKenna Institute.
McKenna is currently the vice chair at TD Bank. It’s rare to read a chartered bank in Canada has been hacked, such is the security systems banks deploy.
“It is mission critical,” at the banks. “We have thousands of denial service attacks a day. It is absolutely critical, it is a foundation to the banking world we are able to protect against these attacks and leaks of data,” McKenna tells The Macdonald Notebook.
Frank McKenna reads The Macdonald Notebook.
