Operation: Defend the North — Ottawa, September 24, 2025
- Marlo Rulona
- Sep 28, 2025
- 2 min read
On September 24, 2025, Ottawa became the hub of one of Canada’s most ambitious cybersecurity readiness exercises to date: Operation: Defend the North (ODTN).Hosted at the Shenkman Arts Centre and livestreamed nationwide, the event brought together public-sector leaders, private-sector executives, and security professionals for a full-day immersion in a simulated national cyber crisis.
A High-Stakes Cybersecurity Simulation
Operation: Defend the North is not a traditional conference or lecture series. Instead, it’s a tabletop exercise designed to replicate the stress and urgency of a real-world cyberattack. Participants were thrust into a detailed storyline where Canada’s critical infrastructure—energy grids, banking systems, and healthcare networks—came under coordinated digital assault.
Throughout the day, teams faced:
Ransomware and cascading system failures that disrupted key services.
AI-driven disinformation campaigns aimed at sowing public panic.
Cross-jurisdictional coordination challenges, forcing federal, provincial, and private organizations to share intelligence and allocate resources in real time.
The goal: reveal vulnerabilities and sharpen decision-making under pressure.
Why It Matters
Cyber incidents rarely confine themselves to one agency or sector. Operation: Defend the North highlights how resilience is a collective responsibility. Key takeaways from the Ottawa exercise include:
Plans Are Only the Starting Point
Written protocols often look solid until tested under live conditions. The exercise exposed gaps and forced participants to improvise.
Collaboration Is Non-Negotiable
The simulation underscored the need for seamless communication between government bodies, private companies, and critical infrastructure providers.
Human Factors Matter as Much as Technology
Managing public messaging, countering disinformation, and keeping teams calm proved just as vital as technical defenses.
Lessons for Organizations
For businesses, municipalities, and institutions across Canada (and beyond), the message is clear: prepare through practice. Tabletop simulations like Operation: Defend the North help leaders identify weaknesses before real adversaries exploit them.
If your organization hasn’t run a similar drill, consider:
Creating realistic crisis scenarios tailored to your sector.
Involving both executives and frontline staff.
Including non-technical challenges such as public relations, legal implications, and supply chain disruptions.
The Bigger Picture
Operation: Defend the North demonstrates that cybersecurity is no longer just an IT concern—it’s a national security imperative. By confronting hypothetical crises today, participants are better equipped to respond to tomorrow’s very real threats.
As one participant summed it up: “It’s far better to find the cracks in a simulation than to discover them during an actual breach.”
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