Canada continues trade with China despite security concerns

On Monday, the US Justice Department charged five members of the Chinese military with cyber-espionage. The men are accused of hacking into the networks of major American corporations and a union.

U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the charges in Washington:

The range of trade secrets and other sensitive business information stolen in this case is significant and demands an aggressive response. The indictment alleges that these PLA officers maintained unauthorized access to victims' computers to steal information from these entities that would be useful to their competitors...U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

While China has denied the charges, some of the men indicted are believed to be part of a Chinese military group called Unit 61398. Cyber security experts suspect the same group is behind a 2011 hack into Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, which took place just days before the extradition hearing of China's most wanted men.

For more on Unit 61398, we were joined by Andy Pendergast. He's the Product Director at Cyber Squared Inc., a U.S.-based firm specializing in threat intelligence.

They've been accussed of not just hacking for what the U.S. would consider diplomatic or military reasons, but crossing a red line into commerical hacking for state benefit.Andy Pendergast

The indictments come in the middle of Canada's latest trade mission to China, which takes place this week.

Canada has a lot to lose if industry and government secrets fall into the wrong hands. But intelligence officers have been warning the Canadian government about Chinese cyber-espionage for years, and the attacks continue.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya is calling on the government to implement tighter cyber-security measures. He's the former Chief of Asia-Pacific for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the CEO of the Northgate Group, a Canadian security consulting firm.

Unfortunately every single day the Canadian government is suffering attacks coming from China and other countries. It's now a new war...we are in a state of war when it comes to cyber-security.Michel Juneau-Katsuya

For many companies, the cost of not doing business with China far outweighs the risks posed by hackers and cyber-attacks. Wenran Jiang is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta and an advisor to the Alberta Government on Asian energy markets.

We need the China market, and that is a trade relationship we can't ignore... We cannot use that risk as a way of saying we'll cut off trade, or slow down trade.Wenran Jiang

We invited a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa to join us today, but no one returned our calls. We also requested an interview with someone in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, but no one was made available to us.

Do you think the government should be doing more to protect Canadian interests from cyber-espionage?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien, Sarah Grant, and intern Deanne Bender.