Canberra, Beijing agreeto anti-cyber-theft pact

CANBERRA — Australia has agreed to a cyber-security pact with Beijing, under which both countries have pledged to not conduct or support the theft of intellectual property or trade secrets from each other.

The agreement follows a specific request made by Mr Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s Prime Minister, to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his state visit to Australia last month, and reflects growing concern in the West about state-sponsored hacking and cyber crime.

“Australia and China agreed that neither country would conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets or confidential business information, with the intent of obtaining competitive advantage,” said the Australian government in a statement yesterday.

Canberra has stepped up its focus on cyber crime and espionage, following its admission last year that government networks had in 2015 suffered a state-sponsored cyber attack that initially targeted the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

In January, Mr Turnbull warned that Russia’s interference in the United States election through hacking was of “great concern”.

Mr Peter Jennings, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said he had “no doubt whatsoever that the Chinese were responsible for the meteorology bureau attack”.

He said the bilateral agreement made sense as China was the largest source of cyber espionage for Australia to consider. But he warned that Canberra should be under no illusion that Beijing would continue to target Australian interests.

Mr Tim Wellsmore, director of threat intelligence at global cyber-security group FireEye, said the Australia-China pact looked similar to an agreement between the US and China, which was signed in 2015.

“It focuses on the theft of intellectual property and business-related issues but not espionage or political-inspired hacking,” he said.

A report by FireEye last year concluded there had been a notable decline in China-based groups’ overall intrusion activity against entities in the US since mid-2014.

It said the shift in operations reflected the influence of military reforms in China, widespread exposure of Chinese cyber operations and actions taken by the US government.

The Sino-Australian cyber-security co-operation deal comes as New Zealand hosts a meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence network — an alliance comprising the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — in Queenstown this week. New Zealand media reported that senior US officials Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were spotted flying into Queenstown on the weekend on private jets.

Mr Bill English, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, confirmed the meeting to Radio New Zealand, saying it was one of the regular conferences held by the Five Eyes network.

“We work with the other four countries, combating terrorism, protecting our citizens around the world. So it’s an arrangement that works well for New Zealand,” he said.

Mr English also told reporters New Zealand was considering placing restrictions on laptops and other large electronic devices on flights from some countries in the Middle East, a move that would follow similar steps taken by countries including the US, UK and Australia.

“A number of our security partners put those arrangements in place,” he said. “With this particular proposition there’s a balance between inconvenience for passengers, many of whom live off their laptop, on the one hand, but, on the other hand it’s making sure that the flying is safe.” FINANCIAL TIMES