A recently released survey shows that Canada ranks third on the list of places that cyber-criminals set up shop in 2012. Instead of choosing Russia or China, some cyber criminals have been setting up servers with Canadian IP addresses for their attacks, says Websense’s cybercrime report card on Canada.

Canada was the No. 3 country of choice for cyber criminals to set up virtual bases with advanced malware for corporate espionage, said the report, to be unveiled Wednesday at the SC Congress in Toronto, a conference on information security.

Ahead of Canada on the list was the United States at No. 1 and the Netherlands was No. 2.

An even more disturbing finding from the report is that it isn’t just lone cyber-criminals who are coming to Canada; according to The Vancouver Sun, foreign governments are also launching their corporate espionage attacks.

“Our main discovery, really, is that foreign companies and governments are setting up bases in Canada to drive corporate espionage attacks. Those attacks are more advanced than previous years,” said Carl Leonard, a senior manager at Websense.

And why is Canada the choice for cyber-criminals? It’s because of Canada’s largely good reputation online. Canadian websites are often considered safe spaces online, which makes it easier to dupe unsuspecting people into clicking malicious links originating from Canadian sources.

It’s also due to the way the Internet is monitored and controlled through legislation in this country.

“(Internet service providers) really should take a responsibility to monitor for malicious behaviour. ISPs really need to make it harder for the bad guys,” Leonard said.