Australia yesterday unveiled the “largest-ever” boost in cybersecurity spending, days after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke out about a wave of state-sponsored attacks suspected to have been carried out by China.
Morrison and government officials said the country would spend an additional A$1.35 billion (US$928 million) on cybersecurity, about a 10 percent hike, taking the budget for the next decade to A$15 billion.
The largest chunk of the new money would help create 500 jobs within the Australian Signals Directorate, the government’s communications intelligence agency.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Morrison on June 19 said that a “state-based actor” was targeting a host of government entities, public services and businesses.
As with state-backed cyberattacks on Australia’s parliament, political parties and universities last year, China was seen as the likely culprit.
Morrison yesterday said that malicious cyberactivity against Australia was increasing in frequency, scale and sophistication.
Australia is a part of the FiveEyes intelligence network, but its cybersecurity funding pales compared with that of the US, China or Russia.
The funding was designed to “help ensure we have the tools and capabilities we need to fight back and keep Australians safe,” Morrison said.
In related news, the Chinese government yesterday labeled Australia a “fervent intelligence gatherer,” accusing it of a mass-scale espionage project that is “jeopardizing others’ sovereignty and security.”
In a statement sent to Australian media yesterday morning, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said a report in the Global Times, which claimed Australian spies in China were instigating defections, spying on Chinese students and feeding fake news to the media to hype up theories about Chinese spying, was only “the tip of the iceberg.”
Zhao accused Australia of playing “the part of the victim” publicly, despite “peddling rumors and stoking confrontation by staging a farce of the thief crying ‘stop thief.’”
Australia’s behavior had “long crossed the line,” he said.
“The Five Eyes intelligence alliance has long engaged in cyberespionage, spying and surveillance on foreign governments, companies and individuals in violation of international law and basic norms for international relations. This is not a secret to anyone,” Zhao said. “And Australia, an important member of the Five Eyes, has been a fervent intelligence gatherer in relevant countries. I am afraid that what is revealed by the Global Times this time is just the ‘tip of the iceberg.’”
“Some people and media in Australia are enthusiastic about producing such sensational stories as ‘China spying on and infiltrating Australia,’ yet they cannot justify their stories with any solid evidence,” Zhao said.
“In contrast, irrefutable evidence abound [sic] to prove Australia’s operation of spying activities in China. They steal information and data from other countries, jeopardizing others’ sovereignty and security,’” he said. “They owe an honest answer to the Chinese people and the international community.”
Zhao was responding to a Global Times story, based on an anonymous Chinese law-enforcement agency source, that said Australia had tried to install wiretaps in the Chinese embassy in Canberra, that included photographs of “spying materials” such as a compass, a USB flash drive, a notebook and a map of Shanghai, said to have been seized from arrested Australian agents.
A spokeswoman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: “Australia’s intelligence and security agencies are committed to protecting our national security, including the important work of countering the serious threat of foreign interference.”
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
RSS