iscover
Share this article on:
Powered by
MOMENTUM
MEDIA
Australia has called out Russia for the large number of cyber crime organisations it harbours.
Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo said that Russia must rein in the number of hacking groups that launch attacks from within its borders, saying that it is “not a rule of law country” where conventional law enforcement disciplines are ineffective.
“Cyber criminals are everywhere, but the greatest density are in Russia, and we call on the Russian government to bring those hackers to heel,” Pezzullo said during a speech at the AFR Business Summit in Sydney.
“We are not going to take these blows without punching back.”
Pezzullo said that Russia’s high hacker count and the risk of an attack on critical infrastructure was one of the most significant threats to Australia’s national security, particularly following the major hacks on Medibank and Optus that occurred late last year.
“A cyber attack could actually come unattributed ... it could be a criminal act or it could be a proxy actor working with or on behalf of a state, or it could be a state,” said Pezzullo.
“The blurring and the ambiguity that it generates is a challenge just for policy, let alone regulation.”
Telstra’s chief information security officer Narelle Devine was also present at the AFR Business Summit and highlighted the importance for companies to share information and join forces to take on the threat of cyber crime, saying that any company could have been the victim of the attack that affected Optus.
“These hacks could happen to anyone. The attackers only have to be right once, whereas security teams have to be right all the time,” she said.
“[Sharing information on hacks] immensely helpful.”
“I think everybody has a perception that we don’t share, and we’re very competitive, but it’s not like that in the cyber domain at all.”
Australia joins the US and the UK in holding Russia accountable for the actions of its hackers, after the two nations sanctioned seven Russian hackers from the cyber crime syndicate Trickbot.
Additionally, Australia’s vilification of Russia’s hospitality to cyber criminals and hacking groups comes as the federal government looks to revamp its cyber security policies.
Together, Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese proposed a number of changes that, among other things, would give the Australian Signals Directorate additional powers to prevent future hacks.
Suggested last month, the change could see the Australian Signals Directorate gain the ability to take control of a private organisation’s IT systems in the event of a cyber attack.
The government has also announced that it will appoint a new cyber security coordinator that would empower Australia to “get back up off the mat and make sure that we’re cyber resilient”.
Be the first to hear the latest developments in the cyber industry.
