The NY Times reports that Canada played a notable role in assisting the NSA to weaken encryption standards. The Times reports:

internal memos leaked by a former N.S.A. contractor, Edward Snowden, suggest that the N.S.A. generated one of the random number generators used in a 2006 N.I.S.T. standard – called the Dual EC DRBG standard – which contains a back door for the N.S.A. In publishing the standard, N.I.S.T. acknowledged â€œcontributionsâ€ from N.S.A., but not primary authorship.



Internal N.S.A. memos describe how the agency subsequently worked behind the scenes to push the same standard on the International Organization for Standardization. â€œThe road to developing this standard was smooth once the journey began,â€ one memo noted. â€œHowever, beginning the journey was a challenge in finesse.â€



At the time, Canada’s Communications Security Establishment ran the standards process for the international organization, but classified documents describe how ultimately the N.S.A. seized control. â€œAfter some behind-the-scenes finessing with the head of the Canadian national delegation and with C.S.E., the stage was set for N.S.A. to submit a rewrite of the draft,â€ the memo notes. â€œEventually, N.S.A. became the sole editor.â€