India and Australia condemn use of cyberspace to shake international peace

Without referring to China and North Korea’s alleged misuse of cyberspace and hacking exercises, India and Australia have condemned the abuse of the World Wide Web. The foreign ministers of the latter two countries, during their dialogue in Melbourne on Saturday, condemned attempts to use cyberspace and cyber-enabled technologies to undermine international peace and stability.

India and Australia have reaffirmed their commitment to open, secure, free, peaceful and interoperable cyberspace and technologies that adhere to international law. Their foreign ministers recognized cooperation in the areas of cyber governance, cyber security, capacity building, innovation, digital economy and cyber, and critical technologies as an essential pillar of the India-Australia relationship.

They agreed to undertake joint engagement with Indo-Pacific partners to collaboratively improve the region’s cyber capabilities to promote a resilient and trusted cyberspace and effective incident response. The ministers emphasized that the way in which technology is designed, developed, governed and used should be informed by their shared democratic values and respect for human rights.

As such, the Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy shows both countries’ long-term commitment to bilateral cooperation in cyber and critical technologies. S Jaishankar, the Indian foreign minister, welcomed the Australian government’s intention to open a consulate-general in Bengaluru.

Moreover, the two countries are in collaboration for the $12.7 million Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership. This contributes to Australian government’s priority to promote a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

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Michael Sentonas, chief technology officer at CrowdStrike, said it’s important for Australian organizations to reflect on the past 12 months to understand how the cybersecurity landscape has changed and how to better prepare for 2022’s threats. “Amidst pressures to maintain a robust security posture, 55% of Australian organizations are reportedly losing trust in key software suppliers due to cybersecurity concerns, a sentiment that is exacerbated for legacy IT vendors. In fact, 75% of Australian businesses said they were specifically losing trust in vendors like Microsoft due to increasing attacks, more than any other country surveyed.”

Sentonas believes its a real challenge for businesses.