How to stay cyber-secure when working from home during Covid-19.

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As Australian organisations plan to slowly return to the office in the coming weeks and months, cyber security, and cyber safety, becomes even more important.

ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre asked experts for some tips on how to stay secure and safe when working from home, and as we transition back to the office, full-time or part-time.

They discuss the importance of patching your device & updating your firmware; two-factor authentication; being wary of suspicious emails, links and attachments; e-safety when at home with your kids; and treating cyber security at home just as you would in the office.

Hear from:

  • Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts
  • Tim Watts MP, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security
  • Sean Duca, Palo Alto
  • Christian Frain, Splunk
  • Matt Carling, Cisco
  • Julie Inman-Grant, Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner
  • Vicky Xu, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre
  • Glenn Maiden, Fortinet
  • Damien Manuel and Megan Spielvogel, AISA
  • Mark Anderson, Microsoft
  • Michelle Bedson, Jacobs
  • Rachael Falk, Cyber Security CRC

Video edited by Henry Stentiford

Australia’s intelligence community needs another independent review

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On 9 March 2020 ASPI’s Danielle Cave co-authored an article with The Lowy Institute’s Alex Oliver focused on why women remain under-represented in senior and strategic roles in Australia’s intelligence community:

“The quality of the community’s output is dependent on the thousands of staff who manage an increasingly complex mix of operational, technical, and analytical work. Many of them work in high-pressure environments and are responsible for delivering the fruits of that work to the government, and to parliament.

A lack of independent and in-depth investigation over many decades has allowed a community to evolve in which women have not risen to the top at nearly the same rate as their male counterparts, which has produced a culture far less diverse than Australian society itself…

…The gap is most startling because, when you interrogate the data as we did for our 2019 report Foreign Territory: Women in International Relations, you can see it clearly. Our report found that Australia’s intelligence agencies, collectively, have the lowest proportions of women in leadership among the study sample, with female representation in the senior executive service across the community far lower than in the public service generally. Some agencies had actually suffered periodic declines in senior female representation.

We also discovered that there were fewer women in key senior intelligence roles, running operational, analytical, and technical divisions, posted in senior roles overseas and leading policy-shaping activities (such as reviews).”

Read the full article at the Lowy Interpreter here.

Michael Shoebridge on the end of lockdown in Wuhan

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After 76 days, the lockdown of Wuhan in China has come to an end.

ASPI’s Michael Shoebridge discusses the ramifications of this decision with Tim Lester on 7 News. 

Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Statement

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ASPI is an independent, non-partisan think tank that produces expert and timely advice for Australia’s strategic and defence leaders. To this end, ASPI is proactive in its disclosure of funding to ensure strong transparency and accountability.

ASPI’s annual reporting through the Minister to Parliament is a strong transparency and accountability measure, imposing the same accountability for our operations and use of funds as other public sector entities.  Our compliance is audited by the ANAO.

ASPI is also one of the very few Australian organisations, including think tanks and universities, that has registered under the FITS.  This is consistent with the spirit of transparency and accountability of our independent organisation.

The ASPI grant amount cited in the Senate this week was incorrect. The 2019 State Department grant cited was for less than half the amount quoted in Parliament. These grant funds were used for ASPI’s China Defence Universities Tracker project [https://unitracker.aspi.org.au/]. As this grant falls within the current financial year, it will be reported in ASPI’s 2019-20 annual report that will be tabled to Parliament.

We are incredibly proud of the China Defence Universities tracker project. It was an enormous piece of in-depth analysis that is data driven, policy relevant and rigorously researched by our analysts. Importantly, the idea for the project came about in 2018 in response to requests from the university sector – in Australia and overseas – for more analysis and Chinese-language support to better understand potential research partners in China. The feedback we have had on the project, from universities in Australia and around the world, has so far been excellent and it is being well-used by both university sectors and governments.  

In 2019 ASPI created a webpage to explain its registration on the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS), an Australian Government initiative that aims to provide the public and government decision-makers with visibility of the nature, level and extent of foreign influence on Australia’s government and political process.

ASPI registers projects under the FITS as necessary; funding from the U.S. State Department, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Government of Japan have been listed on FITS: https://www.aspi.org.au/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme

The FITS complements ASPI’s existing disclosure and reporting methods. As with all of ASPI’s work, ASPI retains independent control over the content and direction of all foreign funded or sponsored work. This is made clear in the agreements with each principal and is essential both to comply with the ASPI’s charter, which requires ASPI to provide independent analysis and advice, and to protect ASPI’s reputation for independence in its research and commentary.

For more information on the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme please visit: https://www.ag.gov.au/Integrity/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme/Pages/default.aspx

To see ASPI’s annual reports since its inception in 2001 please visit: https://www.aspi.org.au/annual-reports

After White Paper 16 – Save the Date!

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ASPI International Conference

After White Paper ’16: What next for defence strategy?

10-12 June, 2020. Hotel Realm, Canberra

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) invites you to save the date for our annual international conference.

The world has changed more quickly than we assessed in 2016…and so too are the consequential challenges. For Defence that means we need to assess these changes and challenges in a hard-headed manner to adapt to the rapidly changing world around us.

Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC, Minister for Defence.

As Defence is reassessing the strategic foundations of the 2016 White Paper, ASPI is convening distinguished international and Australian thinkers for two days of debate to consider what is next for Australian defence strategy.

Tickets and agenda to be available soon.

Dr Malcolm Davis on The Space Show

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ASPI’s Dr Malcolm Davis was guest on this episode of The Space Show podcast.

In this podcast, Dr Davis discusses Australian commercial space development, national policy and space security, space defense issues.

You can hear the episode here.

5G matters: (Geo)politics and critical national infrastructure

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In January 2020 Danielle Cave contributed an essay for the Raisina Dialogue hosted by India’s largest think-tank The Observer Research Foundation (ORF) as part of ORF’s Raisina Edit series:

“Few people would have guessed that the ‘topic du jour’ for 2019 would be 5G. While telecommunications companies have long had their eye on the prize as the chief deployers of fifth-generation telecommunications, few world leaders, politicians, and key policy departments have had to pay much attention as we have slowly ticked over from 2G to 3G, and from 3G to 4G. But 5G, which is still very much on the horizon for most countries, is different. And it is different for a range of reasons.

First, 5G is a departure from its predecessors, because we are no longer dealing with just telecommunications. 5G will not just give us extra connectivity and faster smartphones; it will connect billions of smart devices, increasingly sophisticated smart cities, and will enable developments like autonomous vehicles. It will provide a platform for advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. While its predecessors brought us text messaging, wireless internet connections, mobile broadband, and cloud technologies, the power of 5G lies in the fact that it will underpin and enable other technological advancements (including those still in the pipeline).

So instead of seeing it as just another step forward for telecommunications, states must also view 5G’s strategic technology as critical national infrastructure….

…Because 5G is critical national infrastructure, decisions made about which companies to partner with really come down to a state’s risk appetite. And states across the world will assess the risks that matter to them and make different decisions. For many, decisions will not focus on the companies themselves. Rather, key consideration will be given to the rules, laws and norms that govern a company’s home environment and guide that state’s international behaviour.

Given the evidence available, Australia’s place in the world and our strategic outlook in the Indo-Pacific, Australia’s risk appetite had its limits. And that hard limit was working with high-risk vendors in a technological advancement critical to enabling the world’s next industrial revolution.”

Read Danielle’s full essay here.

Responsible State behaviour in Cyberspace – explainer videos

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In 2015, the 193 member states of the United Nations unanimously agreed to a framework for responsible behaviour of States in cyberspace.

This framework includes a set of 11 norms, rules and principles.

In collaboration with some of our partners, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre produced two animated video clips that describe and explain the full framework and the of 11 specific norms.

Video 1

Video 2

ICPC is currently implementing a multi-year capacity-building project to support member states of the ASEAN with the implementation of these 11 UN norms. As the project progresses, additional resources will be made available for stakeholder consultations and input.

From 2-4 December, ICPC participated in the inaugural intersessional meeting of the UN Open-ended Working Group on ICTs in the context of International Security. ICPC’s submission can be found here and on the web site hosted by the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs. 

The video clips are currently available with subtitles in English and Bahasa Indonesia. Additional languages will become available throughout 2020.

For more information on this project and the videos, please contact Bart Hogeveen.

John Garnaut joins ASPI as a Senior Fellow

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ASPI is delighted to announce that John Garnaut has joined the International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) as a Senior Fellow.

John Garnaut is an authority on Chinese elite politics and Chinese Communist Party interference and technology transfer programs. John was previously Fairfax’s China’s correspondent (2007-13) and Asia-Pacific Editor (2014-15), Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (Nov 2015 – Sept 2016), and Principal Advisor (International) at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet where he led the Governments analysis and policy response to authoritarian interference (Oct 2016 – Jun 2017).

He is the founder of Garnaut Global where he provides strategic advice to Australian and allied government agencies and international hedge funds. He is also a senior consultant with McGrathNicol Advisory, where he leads enhanced due diligence services and advises universities and corporations on managing compliance with foreign interference legislation. He is a member of the Futures Council of the ANU National Security College and also a member of the Advisory Board for a project on Russian and Chinese disinformation at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

ICPC Director Fergus Hanson said ‘We’re delighted to have John join the team. John has been an architect of how Australia should frame its relationship with Beijing, and is one of the foremost experts in this field.’

Joint BBC-ASPI investigation into West Papua information operations

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A joint investigation between the BBC and ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre analysed a well-funded and co-ordinated information campaign aimed at distorting the truth about events in Indonesia’s West Papua province, and has identified those responsible for its operation.

The researchers found that the campaign used slanted or factually untrue content (including “news” articles, infographics and videos) to promote narratives supportive of the Indonesian government’s actions in West Papua, and to undermine the pro-independence movement.

In a context like this in which independent media is restricted and verified information is scarce, a disinformation campaign such as the one the researchers uncovered has the potential to have a substantial impact on how the situation is perceived by the international community. This in turn could have implications for policies and decisions made by other governments, and in international forums such as the UN.

Building off earlier research published on Bellingcat, the researchers used open source data and digital forensics to analyse the campaign’s operations across multiple platforms and identify Jakarta-based communications consultancy InsightID as the source of the operation. 

This attribution was then confirmed by Facebook, and later acknowledged by the organisation itself.

A second, smaller campaign was also uncovered. Researchers tracked this campaign back to an individual with political connections. On being approached by the BBC, the individual eventually admitted his role in the campaign but insisted that they had been undertaken in his personal capacity and were not connected to his political work.

The investigation was led by BBC’s open source investigator Benjamin Strick and ASPI International Cyber Policy Centre researcher Elise Thomas and included:

A detailed report outlining the full investigation published on Bellingcat

Coverage of the investigation on the BBC in English and in Indonesian