Illustration: Data breach. (Image via Ticket News)

Breaching secret law, Canada arrests senior official

On Thursday (12/9), the Canadian national police force detained Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP’s Director General of Intelligence Unit, Cameron Jay Ortiz, in Ottawa due to an allegation that the official was trying to secretly smuggle Canada’s classified information to external parties.

The official statement did not reveal any destination of the classified information. An official of Public Prosecution Service of Canada, John McFarlane, told that Ortiz was processing and selling classified information to entities that he should not have communicated, abusing his power to access classified information.

Should the transaction have been successful, there would have been an untold number of compromised investigations making it one of the worst espionage cases in Canada.

From 2015 to the time of his arrest, Ortiz has piled up seven counts against him. The 47-year-old official was charged with three sections in the Security of Information Act and two provisions in the Criminal Code. Security of Information Act was made aftermath 9/11 Attack in the U.S to protect classified information from any breaching.

On Friday (13/9), Ortiz was seen briefly in court. Ironically, Ortiz obtained his Ph.D. degree at the University of British Columbia, having submitted his dissertation on the international dimensions of internet security.

Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, declined to make any comment regarding the breach of trust issue. However, he made a brief statement that he was "made aware" of the espionage.

Previously in 2012, a Canadian naval officer, Jeffrey Paul Delisle, breached the Act by sharing classified information to Russia. The Act was rarely violated at the time it was made.

Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/115802732/canada-arrests-official-who-was-part-of-rcmp-over-secrets-law