Ottawa needs to find a long-term, broad-based solution to the ongoing cyber attacks on Canadian institutions.

The recent attack by a Russian hacking group on London Drugs is a good example of just how bad these incidents can become.

The criminals, known as LockBit, held data seized from the drugstore chain for ransom. When London Drugs refused to pay, the hackers published internal employee information on the dark web.

The information includes details about sexual harassment complaints, immigration issues, relationship disclosures, and termination letters.

We share a lot of information with the government, with our health care systems and doctors, with our employers, and even with firms where we are simply customers.

When that information becomes accessible to hackers, the consequences can range from embarrassing to life-threatening.

It鈥檚 information that can be further weaponized by abusive ex-partners or fraud artists looking for another payday. It could impact future employment or be dug up by suspicious landlords, and used against people entirely out of context.

This is a worldwide problem, which means the federal government needs to take more extensive action.

This is not a partisan issue. Whoever has control of Parliament, after the next election or in 10 or 20 years, is going to have to deal with this issue.

It will involve some combination of regulation, law enforcement, and diplomacy.

Regulation will mean some method of systematic controls on how private information is stored and protected in Canada. Best practices have to be enforced, and standard methods that hackers use to gain access have to be identified and guarded against.

The law enforcement and diplomatic sides of this problem will be closely linked. Canada needs more experts in digital crime, police who understand both the technological side of the business, and how money is extracted, laundered, and moved. They don鈥檛 need to be armed, they need to be clever and highly technical.

These officers are also going to have to collaborate. Shutting down digital crime will require cross-border cooperation, and putting pressure on hostile regimes, because that鈥檚 where hackers lurk.

All of these are tall orders, but failing to meet the challenge means letting hackers loot our personal information for decades to come.

鈥� M.C.