Canberra announces Cyber Engagement Strategy

The federal government has launched a new International Cyber Engagement Strategy outlining its cyber affairs agenda for the next three years.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced that the government will allocate an additional $10 million to the Cyber Cooperation Program to support implementation of the strategy, with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region.

The strategy will be supported by private sector partnerships, with Palo Alto Networks announcing it will provide support by offering training and sharing of security best practices to businesses in the region.

The strategy, which forms part of the government’s $230 million Cyber Security Strategy, will also seek to draw a roadmap for using digital technologies to drive sustainable and inclusive regional development.

It has been developed based on the understanding that most cybercrime affecting Australians originates overseas, so providing protection means shutting down cybercrime safe havens internationally.

States are also increasingly settling on boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in cyberspace, and Australia will seek to play a leading role in establishing these boundaries, Bishop said.

“You will note throughout this strategy that partnership is the watchword. The Australian Government appreciates that to deliver on our ambition to increase regional cyber capacity, we need innovative partnerships with the private sector,” she said.

“Palo Alto Networks will conduct technical and other cybersecurity training for ASEAN businesses in partnership with industry and this will complement the initiative to translate our very own Australian Signals Directorate’s world-leading, ‘Essential Eight’ mitigation strategies.”

Pictured: Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop. Courtesy Commonwealth of Australia.

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