Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Saturday that the country's critical infrastructure is increasingly being targeted by cyber attacks, posing a significant threat to the economy of the world's fourth-largest crude oil producer. Reuters.

The US State Department warned last month that China is capable of launching cyber attacks against oil and gas pipelines and rail systems after researchers found that a Chinese hacking group had been spying on such networks.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit in Singapore, Anand said there has been an increase in cyber attacks across North America, although she did not attribute the attacks to any state-sponsored actors.

"We have seen attacks on critical infrastructure in our country and we are very conscious of advising Canadian organizations and Canadian companies to take mitigation measures," Anand said.

Canada is home to a number of major oil pipelines that are important to global crude oil reserves.