A “determined and savvy insider” could leak sensitive diplomatic cables in a WikiLeaks-type of incident, warned a Foreign Affairs Department internal report obtained by the Canadian Press wire through the Access to Information Act.
The department’s C5 system, which contains most of the diplomatic cables, is vulnerable to an insider data breach, the report concluded.
The report recommended that the department reduce the risk through deployment of technology and training of personnel.
"While a determined and savvy insider will be able to circumvent security controls and extract some classified information, there are ways to mitigate the general risk of this occurring," the Canadian Press quoted the report as saying.
At the same time, the report cautioned against overreacting to the US WikiLeaks incident. "As a department dependent on the production and circulation of information, it is crucial to avoid a 'swinging pendulum' approach to disturbing developments elsewhere."
Other documents obtained by the Canadian Press showed that the Foreign Affairs Department set up a “war room” with 18 staff members to review the US cables posted on WikiLeaks for Canadian references and warned Canadian embassies about the potential leak of names of Canadians abroad.