Canada has long been a quiet front in the global theatre of espionage, first in the shadows of the Cold War, and now in the ever-expanding battleground of digital surveillance. This conversation examines what’s changed and what hasn’t in the murky world of surveillance, state power, and civil liberties, bringing together two insiders who have spent their careers navigating the clandestine forces that shape our national and global security. Donald G. Mahar, a veteran of Canada’s intelligence community, revisits Shattered Illusions – his gripping account of a Soviet double agent who operated in Quebec in the 1950s. Alongside him is Ronald Deibert, director of the Toronto-based Citizen Lab, whose groundbreaking work has uncovered some of the most dangerous cyber espionage campaigns of our time. His new book, Chasing Shadows, exposes today’s frontline of cyber-espionage, where authoritarian regimes deploy cutting-edge spyware to monitor, manipulate, and silence.
Moderated by Kenrick Bagnall.
Like a John Le Carré novel updated for the digital age, Chasing Shadows provides a gripping account of how the Citizen Lab, the world’s foremost digital watchdog, has uncovered dozens of cyber espionage cases and protects people in countries around the world. Called “essential reading” by Margaret Atwood, it’s a chilling reminder of the invisible invasions happening on smartphones and computers around the world.
In this real-life spy thriller, cyber security expert Ronald Deibert details the unseemly marketplace for high-tech surveillance, professional disinformation, and computerized malfeasance.
Yevgeni Vladimirovich Brik and James Douglas Finley Morrison were central figures in what was considered one of the most important Cold War operations in the West at the time. Their story, which involves espionage, intelligence tradecraft, intelligence service penetrations, double agent scenarios, and betrayal, is a piece of Cold War intelligence history that has never been fully told.
Ronald J. Deibert is the founder and director of the Citizen Lab, a world-renowned digital security research center at the University of Toronto.
Donald G. Mahar served 41 years in the RCMP Security Service, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Communications Security Establishment both in Canada and abroad.
Sat, June 28, 2025
A book signing will follow this event
