On January 27, 2016, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (“CRTC”) made an announcement that it executed a warrant pursuant to Canada’s anti-spam legislation (“CASL”) at two sites in Ontario’s Niagara Region. This is the second warrant that has been issued since CASL came into force in 2014. Further information about the first of these warrants, issued on December 3, 2015, may be found in our January 2016 Charity & NFP Law Update.
The CRTC is responsible for enforcement under CASL, and actions taken by the CRTC can include administrative monetary penalties and investigations, among other actions. The CRTC does not comment on active investigations or names of individuals or companies that are being investigated but disclosed that this particular warrant was in response to an ongoing investigation of the installation of malware and the alteration or transmission data. The investigation was initiated after the CRTC received information from FireEye Inc., a company that specializes in cyber threat protection and forensics.
In the announcement, the CRTC asserted that it will continue to collaborate with local and international authorities to “aggressively pursue investigations of alleged violations under CASL” and encouraged Canadians to report spam and electronic threats to the Spam Reporting Centre. Charities and not-for-profits should take measures to ensure that their networks are not compromised by various forms of malware or viruses in order to protect themselves and their constituents from similar attacks.