By Amber Hildebrandt / CBC News
The CBC News report earlier this week that Canada hacked into Mexican computer networks to gather intelligence is expected to worsen an already tense relationship with a key trading partner.
“This type of cyberwarfare and cyberspying is generally done to countries that are considered your enemy, not your friends, certainly not your partners in a free trade agreement,” said Andres Rozental, a former Mexican deputy foreign minister and career diplomat.
CBC News reported that the U.S. National Security Agency and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment “co-operate closely” on computer network access and exploitation in hotspots like North Africa and the Middle East, but also in friendly nations like Mexico and in Europe.
Those details came out of a 2013 memo, written by the NSA, that was among a cache of documents obtained by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, and analyzed jointly by CBC News and the U.S. news site The Intercept.
The memo didn’t name the spy agencies’ specific targets in the countries, nor did it detail the tactics used.