Discover essential tips for using the internet safely in line with the Government’s newest cybersecurity report and whole-of-society approach to digital safety.

Whenever we think we’ve seen it all, the internet chucks something unexpected at the world. In the past few days, we’ve seen two dazzling demonstrations of the power of AI to deceive or convince. First, a hacker infiltrated the internal television screens of the Washington headquarters of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to play a deepfake video of US President Donald Trump kissing Elon Musk’s feet. Next, President Trump shared an AI-generated video of his vision for Gaza on his Truth Social account.

At home, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security recently released a report that underlines the need to keep expecting the unexpected. According to their National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026, Canada is experiencing a barrage of digital attacks.

A Perfect Storm of Cyber Criminality

There has been a notable increase in state-sponsored cyber operations to disrupt Canada’s critical infrastructure. The report specifically mentions the aggressive cyber programs of the People’s Republic of China. Looks like Russia also aims to destabilize Canada and its allies.

Another concern is the flourishing underground network of cybercriminals. In this space, foreign threat actors and financially motivated ‘ordinary’ criminals cross paths. They sometimes find enough common ground to scratch each other’s backs. That may be one reason ordinary Canadians face more attempts to steal personal data and sensitive information.

Data breaches do a lot of damage. Apart from the financial loss, it brings reputation damage, and even legal consequences for both individuals and organizations. For example, a Equifax survey showed that 73.5% of all fraudulent credit card applications and 89.3% of all deposit frauds in Q4 2023 resulted from identity fraud.

The Dangers of Data Sharing Among Thieves

Cybercriminals trade stolen information, and this data-sharing trend is becoming a significant concern. With access to more extensive and diverse data pools, these criminal groups can better leverage people’s personal data. A bigger data pool makes criminals more effective and profitable. Even worse, it allows them to shift their focus to more complex and vastly more disruptive projects.

The Government of Canada is taking the increased threat level seriously. They’ve developed the National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS) to address digital threats. The new plan uses a whole-of-society approach and has a substantial proposed budget.

According to security experts, Canadians can take more steps to use the internet safely. This includes avoiding phishing scams, identity theft, malware attacks, and data breaches. When individuals are safer from fraud and scams, the overall threat to everyone online is reduced.

10 Quick Tips on How to Use the Internet Safely in Canada

It’s not hard to make using the internet safer — a little preparedness goes a long way.

• Install antivirus software and enable your device’s firewall.
• Get a reliable VPN in Canada. A Virtual Private Network is a basic defence system that all devices should have. It encrypts your internet connection to keep out snoopers (like your ISP) and hackers with mayhem on their minds.
• Update devices immediately and keep operating systems (and all your apps) up to date. Updates are important patches addressing security weaknesses and closing loopholes in new exploits.
• Improve your passwords. It is far better to use a password manager to create long, complex passwords or phrases for each account.
• Enable 2FA (two-factor authentication) where possible. Your favourite app or online account is nagging you to enable 2FA for a good reason! 2FA can knock out a considerable percentage of hacking attempts. Would-be hackers with access to your passwords would also need your phone or other authentication device to get into your account.
• Become more privacy-aware. We give away a lot of information by accident. Most people use and accept the default privacy settings on the software and apps they use every day. They’re unaware that the default privacy settings are skewed in advertisers’ favour. Review and adjust the privacy settings on every app, social media account, and search engine you use. Also, check and adjust the settings on your smartphone and other devices. Use your VPN every time you connect to the internet. A VPN changes your IP address and gives you an extra layer of privacy against advertisers and marketers.
• Encrypt sensitive files. Encryption scrambles the file data by making it unreadable to anyone without the correct decryption key.
• Always think: “It might be phishing”. Be suspicious of links that arrive via email, text, or social media. A click could start a malware download. Phishing scams often impersonate well-known businesses like Netflix, Facebook, or government agencies. Phishing attacks are attempts to trick people into divulging sensitive information. Phishing attacks can also lead to hijacking accounts with stolen login credentials.
• Check the legitimacy of websites. Don’t enter personal or financial information on a website that does not display “HTTPS” in the URL. But be cautious even if there is a padlock icon in the address bar. Cybercriminals can easily get a free SSL certificate for a scam website to make it look more professional. If a website seems ‘off’ or the offers are too good to be true, better leave.
• Create a backup. Store copies of important information on an external hard drive or a secure cloud storage service. Making backups won’t make your device safer, but it could help you recover from a cyber incident.

Staying Cyber Aware as a Society

The internet is a vast resource for modern society. Online tools increase productivity, simplify life, and help us learn new things. But cybercriminals have proven they won’t hesitate to use these tools to create havoc. There is always a new threat on the horizon, so we must keep learning and striving to stay informed about emerging threats.

“How to Share an Egg” by Bonny Reichert
Published by Appetite by Random House, 2025
Book Review by Julie Kirsh, former Sun Media News Research Director
Exclusive to The Jewish Post and News
Bonny Reichert writes with great compassion about her father, a Holocaust survivor. In reviewing children of survivor literature, much has been said about the need to compensate for the suffering of the Holocaust survivor. To upset parents after what they have been through, is to be avoided at all cost.
In my own survivor family, I learned that to ask questions of my parents about what happened during the war and even before the war was to cause pain. I learned not to ask, not to cause pain.
In 2015 Bonny Reichert and her family made a trip to Warsaw. The tomb of an ancestor called out to her father. The author’s great-grandfather was “a pillar of his community and a beloved scholar.” His namesake, the author’s father, was jubilant to find the headstone in the Warsaw cemetery. Afterwards the famished family found a deserted restaurant and revelled in a bowl of borscht garnished with fresh condiments. The description of this delicious meal is the reader’s introduction to the author’s moving memoir about food, love, hunger and survival. The author writes that in her family “food was connected to the meaning of life itself; an understanding woven into our very being.” The dining table was a very important place in the daily life of the family.
At age 5, the author noticed the blue-green numbers on her father’s arm. It was at this time that the father started to talk about his Holocaust experiences. By retelling his stories, the author’s father was reframing the horror into stories of bravery and triumph. In some ways, he was healing himself in the process of telling.
His daughter, the child of the survivor, tests her father’s Holocaust experience by putting a bare foot in the snow or trying to imagine unspeakable hunger. Trauma passed down the intergenerational chain has been explored in the children of the Holocaust survivors’ literature. Bonny Reichert absorbed her father’s trauma without understanding the origin of her own inherent sadness and dark feelings.
My high school years were spent going to movies, shopping and finding out about boys with my best friend, Linda. Her family, unlike my own, was a Canadian Jewish family who came to Toronto before the war. I considered Linda’s family normal and healthy. There were many aunts, uncles, cousins and even grandparents. Similarly, Cathy was the author’s best friend. In Cathy’s home there were no accents and no sad stories about tragedy and loss.
In her twenties, the author takes us through her engagement and marriage to the “right” guy. Turning down an opportunity to go to law school, staying at home with a baby, not dealing with depression was her life which she portrays poignantly in this memoir.
Most unexpectedly, she did not get the support that she needed from her father. He ignored her feelings. He saw her in the role of a traditional wife who had no outside aspirations other than to be a homemaker.
Therapy sessions helped her to take control of her life and become more aware of her authentic self. Her father was able to love her deeply and share the truths that he had learned through his Holocaust experience. However she came to understand that no one can define another person’s path. Taking journalism courses and having her voice published, helped the author’s sense of independence and self-esteem. In her late twenties, after divorcing her first husband, she married Michael, had two more children and balanced motherhood with her job as a magazine editor.
At age forty, the author enrolled in a culinary school. Conquering her unnamed fears, gave her an outlet for the energy trapped within. She learned that “being afraid is no way to live”.
In addition to exploring her personal psyche, the author writes about recreating lost recipes from before the war. The reader learns that Jews have been making cholent for many decades. Putterkuch or butter crumble cake was painstakingly recreated in her modern kitchen and taken to her father for his approval and insight into what he remembered about his mother and his childhood. Food became the trigger for buried memories.
In the final chapters of “How to Share an Egg,” the author goes on a fact finding mission to Berlin and Poland. She visited ghettos and concentration camps with a tour group.

Hedy Bohm is one of the Holocaust’s oldest survivors and was my mother’s best friend. She is the catalyst for persuading the author to conquer her lifelong fear of understanding the Holocaust survivor experience. At age eighty-four, she told her story in a German court of justice. For Hedy, this experience was validating, transforming her entire world view.
The author leaves us with food for thought. Fight the worst that history had to offer the Jews with beauty, happiness and continuation of life. Her father modelled resilience, courage and strength, allowing his daughter to choose her own response to life’s challenges.

President Trump intends for digital assets like Bitcoin, Ether, and a select group of other cryptocurrencies to eventually become part of the US strategic reserve. Although the exact process remains uncertain, market trends are already reflecting increased optimism beyond the US, drawing the attention of Canadian crypto adopters. Following Trump’s recent announcement, Bitcoin experienced its highest peak of a long time, a notable recovery from its previous drastic drop just days earlier.

These developments have sparked curiosity among Canadian investors, who could reshape market trends. In initial discussions in financial circles, experts pointed out that if the trend continues on an upward trajectory, this could spur the rise of innovations such as a number of new cryptocurrency. In this context, besides investing in the common Bitcoin and Ether, it would be worth considering investing in other cryptocurrencies. Exploring new cryptocurrency investment opportunities can be challenging, but experts claim that when approached wisely, it has the potential to be highly rewarding.

On Sunday, Trump disclosed for the first time the specific cryptocurrencies that could be integrated into a newly envisioned US crypto reserve. In a statement he posted on social media, he emphasized that leading digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ether should form the core of this reserve, positioning them as essential elements in the nation’s future financial strategy. Following his announcement, President Trump not only emphasized Bitcoin but also identified other lesser-known cryptocurrencies – such as Ripple, Solana, and Cardano – as key components of his envisioned reserve. In his social media post, he declared, “I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World.”

Crypto prices have rallied significantly after Trump’s announcement regarding the inclusion of Bitcoin and other digital currencies in strategic discussions. This announcement has sparked both excitement and skepticism among investors. Industry experts predict that these developments will drive broader institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies across Canada. This could prove to be an influential factor in comprehensive regulatory reform and increased market stability.

Experts claim that, although vague, Trump’s promises give hope to investors worldwide. In the first few weeks of his presidency, the crypto sector did not receive the anticipated support. However, that initial disappointment seems to have transformed into renewed enthusiasm. Investopedia reports that by Monday morning, Bitcoin – after reaching a peak of about $109,000 in January and dropping last week on Trump’s announcement – had rebounded by over 8% to around $93,000. At the same time, Ether climbed roughly 7%, Solana increased by more than 13%, XRP surged over 16%, and Cardano jumped by over 50%.

Investopedia further reports that Bitcoin’s price encountered obstacles after it was confirmed that the Trump administration would proceed with its intended trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Investopedia further explains that investors often see tariffs as a driver of inflation. As a result, the expected interest reductions for the year of 2025 could be effectively offset, increasing pressure on volatile assets such as Bitcoin, which do not generate returns.

Investopedia notes that since 2013 Bitcoin has posted an equal number of gains and losses, making its performance hard to predict. Despite a roughly 5% drop in Bitcoin’s price since the beginning of 2025, Investopedia states that this cryptocurrency remains up approximately 25% compared to its level during the U.S. election period. This upward trend is largely driven by optimism that a Trump-led White House, along with a crypto-friendly Congress, will introduce policies that support the digital asset market.

Canadian crypto advocates see digital currencies as an opportunity to modernize everyday life. Local trading platforms are experiencing rising sales and an increase in user registrations. The recent fluctuations in cryptocurrencies have been accompanied by interest from strategic investors. Experts see the current developments as a potential turning point that could push digital financial solutions further into the spotlight for the public and politicians, which ultimately has long-term implications for Canada’s economic success. One sector that stands to gain significantly is Canada’s online gambling sector, a major contributor to the national economy.

Despite the current peak, financial experts warn of the risks. Cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile, especially when political and economic conditions change rapidly. Investment strategies must therefore adapt to a market that is both promising and unpredictable. Experts advise newcomers to invest cautiously and keep an eye on global trends. Such trends can have a lasting impact on the Canadian market.

Although the exact structure of future reserves remains unclear, the crypto-enthusiast President Trump has taken action by ordering the creation of a digital assets task force. This group is set to determine by July whether the US government should establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Investors are on edge, closely watching the potential ripple effects this development might have on the global trading market. Meanwhile, market observers expect further crypto-focused announcements from Trump in the coming days. The first crypto summit is scheduled to take place at the White House on Friday.