Ontario – The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) has released an update on the cyber threats facing Canada’s democratic process. This 2025 report highlights the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) by foreign adversaries to target elections worldwide, including in Canada.
The Cyber Threats to Canada’s Democratic Process: 2025 Update indicates that AI technologies have become more powerful and accessible over the last two years. CSE and its Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) assess that these technologies are being used by foreign actors to create and spread disinformation, harass politicians, and enhance cyber espionage and malicious cyber activities.
The report outlines the following key findings:
- Foreign actors, particularly those affiliated with Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), are leveraging AI to sow division and distrust within democratic societies.
- Hostile foreign actors are using AI to flood the information environment with false information, including by enabling the creation of disinformation and of social botnets to spread it.
- Foreign actors are increasingly using generative AI to create and spread viral disinformation with the potential for greater impact as these methods evolve and become even more accessible.
- Cybercriminals and state-sponsored actors will likely use AI to enhance social engineering attacks against political figures and electoral institutions in the near future.
- Nation states are collecting massive amounts of data and are using AI to analyze it faster than ever, further enhancing their ability to conduct targeted influence and espionage campaigns.
- AI is being used to create deepfake pornography targeting politicians and public figures, predominantly women and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
We assess that the PRC, Russia, and Iran will very likely use AI tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s 2025 federal election, including to support disinformation campaigns and hack-and-leak operations. Additionally, cybercriminals may exploit election-related opportunities to conduct scams and fraud. Canadian politicians and political parties are at heightened risk of being targeted by cyber threat actors, particularly through phishing attempts.
Despite these threats, we judge that it is very unlikely that AI-enabled activities will fundamentally undermine the integrity of Canada’s next general election. CSE is working closely with federal partners to ensure the security of our democratic processes and defend our elections from cyber threats. Our Get Cyber Safe campaign will continue to provide advice and guidance to all Canadians to help them stay safe online.