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Government Security

Australian govt reveals new cyberspooks unit

By Johanna Morden | 14 March 2011

The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation is opening a new cyber investigations unit that will combat electronic spying in the nation’s networks.

This special cyber investigations unit will investigate and provide advice on state-sponsored cyber attacks against or involving Australian interests.

The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is working to guard against foreign interference and espionage through technical means, said Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland in a speech at the unit’s unveiling.

McClelland acknowledged cyber security as being at the forefront of the Australian government’s agenda.

“Cyber intrusion, while a distinct method of accessing otherwise private information or disrupting critical systems, cannot be considered in isolation,” he said. “It forms an important part of the broader security landscape. Ultimately, cyber security is a people problem – as people hack computers.”

For this reason, the Australian government is investing in enhanced capabilities for bolstering its resilience against related threats.

The end aim is for the government to better prevent, detect and prosecute cyber intrusions.

The Australian government is strengthening its fight against cyber espionage by holding a close cooperation between ASIO, the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the Defence Signals Directorate’s Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC).

The partnership seeks to identify developing threats and determine suitable responses.

“The cooperation is crucial especially to countering the threat posed by those using the Internet as a modern espionage tool with the potential to facilitate access to large volumes of sensitive government and commercial information” said McClelland.

McClelland said the interest in cyber activity is continuously rising within the community, brought about by such cyber security threats as ‘GhostNet’ in 2009, which infected computers of Tibetan non-government organisations and the private office of the Dalai Lama, and the ‘Stuxnet’ worm that has controlled critical infrastructure in Estonia in the past.

“These attacks and the threat to critical infrastructure such as banking, telecommunications and government systems is not something we can be complacent about,” he said.

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