Operation Maple Disruption 2.0, held in Ottawa from Nov. 2 to 6, coordinated thousands of disruptive actions across more than 50 organizations, the RCMP says.
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Operation Maple Disruption 2.0 took place in Ottawa from Nov. 2 to 6 and brought together partners working for more than 50 organizations to help pinpoint and disable tools used to commit cybercrime and fraud.
Organizers said the operation built on a similar event held last year and was coordinated by the RCMP’s National Cybercrime Co-ordination Centre and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Over the course of the week, partners carried out thousands of disruptive actions targeting fraud enablers such as investment scams and identity theft. The measures included disabling email accounts associated with fraudulent activity, blocking phone numbers used to facilitate fraud, removing or blocking fraudulent websites, and flagging, blocking or cancelling suspicious transactions.
Organizers also said they blocklisted cryptocurrency addresses connected to illicit activity as part of the work. In all, action was taken on 4,264 reports of fraudulent activity, with a total of $1.06 million recovered, according to the RCMP.
Participant Octavia Howell, chief information security officer at Equifax Canada, said no single industry can fight online fraud alone, and that bringing people together under one roof helps analysts draw better conclusions. She said, “The worst thing we would want to do is make an assumption that someone’s a fraudster, and they’re not,” adding, “So we’re able to paint a full picture because of the collaboration that’s in the room.”
Chris Lynam, director general of the National Cybercrime Co-ordination Centre and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, said the event was designed so participants would be equal partners, including sharing information that can help groups compare notes.
The RCMP’s Daniel Foy, officer in charge of the anti-fraud centre, said the collaborative nature of the event helps speed up investigations, describing the benefit of receiving answers more quickly when institutions coordinate together.
Graeme Bunton, executive director of the NetBeacon Institute, said the operation helped bring together “puzzle pieces” about cybercrime to provide a broader view and support efforts to stop it.
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