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“In countries of interest, travellers must not use their regular business or personally owned devices. They should assume that all communications transmitted over public carrier is at risk of being intercepted,” says the October 2013 briefing note from Dupont to senior officials in Natural Resources Canada.

Dupont’s memo was sent the same day allegations emerged that Canada had spied on Brazil’s mines and energy ministry by having CSEC target the metadata of emails and phone calls of Brazilian officials.

In countries of interest, travellers must not use their regular business or personally owned devices

Garry Clement, an IT security specialist and former director of the RCMP proceeds of crime branch, said politicians, senior government officials and business executives regularly travel with new devices that often don’t have the necessary level of security.

BlackBerrys used by federal government ministers and officials are generally more secure than other smartphones and devices, but there are still significant risks, he said.

“It should be a major concern to government,” Clement said. “Unfortunately, what we’re working with in government is a lot of old technology still. I think we’re dealing with a massive amount of naivete.”

State-sponsored cyber crime is “massive,” he said, noting Asia in general and especially China — common destinations for federal officials — are particularly problematic.

Jason MacDonald, the prime minister’s director of communications, said the Conservative government takes the protection of confidential or sensitive information seriously, but he would not comment on security measures for federal officials.