New Delhi: The ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Saturday dismissed Canada‘s designation of India as an “adversary” in its National Cyber Threat Assessment, adding to ongoing diplomatic tensions and implying possible state-sponsored cyber surveillance activities by India targeting Canada.
Reacting to the report MEA Spokesperson Randir Jaiswal said: “We see this as yet another Canadian strategy to attack India. Canadian senior officials have openly confessed that they are seeking to manipulate global opinion against India … as on other occasions, these imputations are made without any evidence.”
What Canada had said about India
The Canadian government’s National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026, published by the Centre for Cyber Security report against India stated that, “We assess that Indian state-sponsored cyber threat actors likely conduct cyber threat activity against government of Canada networks for the purpose of espionage.”
“We judge that official bilateral relations between Canada and India will very likely drive Indian state-sponsored cyber threat activity against Canada, the document added.
According to the report, the Indian government is definitively working towards, “to build a modernised cyber programme with domestic cyber capabilities” and is “very likely uses its cyber programme to advance its national security imperatives, including espionage, counterterrorism, and the country’s efforts to promote its global status and counter narratives against India and the Indian government.”
“We assess that India’s cyber programme likely leverages commercial cyber vendors to enhance its operations,” it added.
The MEA also voiced strong opposition to a Canadian minister’s allegations about union home minister Amit Shah, warning of serious implications for bilateral relations. This response came after Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison’s Tuesday statement claiming Shah directed operations against Sikh separatists in Canada.
Jaiswal said that a Canadian High Commission representative was summoned on Friday and handed a diplomatic note, expressing India’s strong protest against the Canadian deputy minister’s “absurd and baseless” allegations involving India’s union home minister. He emphasised that these actions would significantly affect the relationship between both nations.
Tensions between India and Canada intensified after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in Parliament last year that there were “credible allegations” linking India to the killing of Nijjar.