The MEA said the categorisation was an example of how Canada strategised to attack India.
India criticised Canada on Saturday for labelling it as a cyber threat “adversary,” calling this classification yet another instance of Canada’s ongoing strategy to “attack” India.
The external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal criticised Canada over its National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026 report which accused New Delhi of preparing for so-called state-sponsored hacking and cyber-espionage attempts.
“We judge that official bilateral relations between Canada and India will very likely drive Indian state-sponsored cyber threat activity against Canada,” the report, published earlier this week, said.
Their senior officials have “openly confessed” that they are seeking to “manipulate global opinion against India”, and as on other occasions, imputations are made “without any evidence,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters in response to queries on the issue.
The October 30 report includes a category ‘Cyber threat from state adversaries’ with China placed as the “most comprehensive cyber security threat”. India is named fifth after China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. It is the first time India has been included in the list.
“Another category, Canada has put India into. This categorisation is as per the cyber report that they have issued. It appears to be another example of a Canadian strategy to attack India,” Jaiswal said.
“As I mentioned earlier, their senior officials have openly confessed that they are seeking to manipulate global opinion against India, as on other occasions, imputations are made without any evidence,” he said.
While rejecting India being bracketed in that category, the MEA spokesperson said, “You first state absurd and baseless things and then level such an accusation against us. This is absolutely not right”.
The report, whose last edition was issued two years ago, comes amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two countries.