007 out in the cold as Australia’s frenemies launch cyber time bomb
Foreign governments — including our allies — no longer need 007 types to steal our secrets, relying on organised crime groups with hacking skills to fill their shopping lists of coveted information instead.
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In any other workplace, the memo that went around to staff that afternoon would have been met with mirth and derision and joked about in the staff lunchroom.
But this is the headquarters of ASIO in Canberra and, in the murky world of counter intelligence and sabotage, no warnings no matter how far-fetched are taken lightly.
The staff missive in essence asked senior personnel to ensure pot plants were kept away from windows and exposed conference rooms since it was feared the Chinese had developed an eavesdropping radar that could take the tiny voice vibrations bounced by pot plant leaves and windows and, with high tech equipment, convert them back to dialogue transcripts.
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There was already evidence of the technology, with the Japanese caught trialling a spy hack on the Australian embassy in Indonesian capital Jakarta using an infra-red targeted camera about half a kilometre away to “record” window pane vibrations for later processing and filtered conversations.
It may have all seemed ridiculously crude, and in the early 2000s it was, but cyber hacking theft was still in its infancy, as was the development of enveloping whole buildings with radar frequency interference screen technology.
But then like now the principle of foreign-sourced theft and targeted espionage remains the same, with ASIO warning of a boom in organised crime groups and networks using the latest in technology to attempt to steal secrets from Australian industry, government and our own authorities to sell to the highest bidder, whether state or commercial.
It’s no longer necessarily foreign governments and dispatched spies involved in information theft and cyber hacks, but organised criminal groups looking to make money by selling secrets to governments or foreign industries with an interest in what Australians are up to.
Why deploy a James Bond and risk embarrassment when you can employ an anonymous and unidentifiable hacker?
The trade is now so lucrative ASIO has warned of virtual “shopping lists” of wanted items being sought via cyber terrorism and corporate espionage circulating in the hi-tech underworld. Those items specifically include sensitive information on energy sector vulnerabilities and mineral resources, right through to defence technology and preparedness and classified economic outlooks and immigration files.
Australia security chiefs have already specifically discussed recently the potential for sustained espionage attack on defence supply chains to our leading new acquisitions, the F-35 fighter jet and the new $50 billion French-designed Barracuda class submarine project.
Both have large Australian industry input with commercial component partners perhaps not having as high a level of cyber security, which could be used as a backdoor entry for foreign-backed crims to exploit sensitive information.
The “blur”, as ASIO likes to call it, behind those acting for or on behalf of foreign governments is now such, identifying the cyber adversary and understanding the motive is difficult.
But make no mistake, it is not just pariah states or competitive giants like China and Russia seeking our stuff but allies as well.
“Australia’s position as a major commodity supplier, scientific and technological innovator and potential joint venture partner makes it a target of foreign states seeking to gain an advantage,” ASIO stated in its last review of the year to federal parliament.
It added: “A range of countries target Australia some of which we have strong and enduring relationships with which doesn’t appear to curtail their willingness to target Australia.”
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These apparent frenemies could be anyone. It’s widely known US spies regularly use fake Australian passports to attract less attention during activity abroad, and our nearest neighbour Indonesia was largely suspected of having dispatched operatives to target a defence contractor to the Federal Government, based in Western Sydney, to successfully steal computer-based plans on a prototype design for an Australian Defence Force military explosive device under development.
Australia has also in recent times seen cyber hack attempts by others in Asia and the Middle East not naturally considered our rivals, but keen on gathering intelligence we have indirectly from within the Five Eyes security pact we share with the US, UK, New Zealand and Canada.
On average more than 1500 cyber incidents are recorded each year by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) tasked with identifying and disrupting cyber attacks.
ASIO has this month noted that identifying those criminals behind the attacks is difficult since there is no longer a clear distinction between state and non-state actors working in this area, such has been the criminal elements’ ability to tap into these new technologies that spying is no longer the exclusive domain of trained government-backed spooks.
It’s also no longer just government, military, infrastructure or trade secrets they are after either, with a market to target individuals, and particularly their healthcare files, to steal their identities and then go on to carry out further cyber crimes.
In the UK particularly, healthcare is treated by the government as critical national infrastructure like water utilities, power grids and transport systems, so an enemy state could also find advantage stealing and storing details to then target the sector to cause maximum chaos and panic.
In a report to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on where Australia’s criminal intelligence war is at, ASIO director general Duncan Lewis noted not only were state-sponsored and independent actors trying to steal information and national secrets to “cause harm”, but were now better at concealing their activities and exposing efforts to bust them.
“Activities that may appear relatively harmless today can have significant future consequences,” he noted of the critical information theft threat.
“The harm may not manifest until many years, even decades, after the activity has occurred. Hostile intelligence activity can undermine Australia’s national security and sovereignty; damage Australia’s reputation and relationships; degrade or compromise nationally vital assets, defence capabilities and critical infrastructure and threaten the safety of Australian nationals or others who serve Australian interests.”
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Originally published as 007 out in the cold as Australia’s frenemies launch cyber time bomb
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