Australia to lead international cyber attack task force.
Australia will spearhead an international cyber attack task force aimed at fighting cyber hackers and other online threats in the wake of the Medibank and Optus breaches.
The ‘International Counter Ransomware Initiative’ is among several projects to emerge from a two-day cyber-crime summit in Washington this week. The Australian-led initiative will also see members commit to capability and intelligence sharing including participation in twice-annual ‘cyber war games’.
The virtual taskforce, to be hosted by the Department of Home Affairs and its recently established Critical Technology Coordination Centre, is expected to “coordinate resilience, disruption and counter illicit finance activities” when it is convened early next year.
With Australia as inaugural chair and coordinator, ICRTF members will “commit to contribute to joint work of the coalition through information and capability sharing, as well as joint action in the fields of resilience, disruption and countering illicit finance,” the White House said.
In a statement, Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security Clare O’Neil said the taskforce would unite key international stakeholders across governments to develop innovative solution to counter the ransomware threat. “The ransomware threat extends across international borders, and I call on other nations to be party of this global initiative to support effective detection, disruption and prosecution of malicious cyber actors who utilise ransomware for financial and other gain,” she said.
Minister O’Neil said the recent cyber-attack against Medibank Private, which compromised highly sensitive health data, “is a blunt reminder that we need a globally focused capability to combat cyber threats, including ransomware.
“This international taskforce will enable sustained and impactful collaboration between international agencies to disrupt, combat and defend against the scourge of ransomware,” she said. The taskforce was agreed to at the CRI summit, which was attended by 36 countries and the European Union.
“Our new Cyber Security Strategy will be looking at further ways to harden our nation so Australia becomes an unwelcome operating environment for cyber criminals.
“We will also be calling for continued international cooperation and coordination through joint operations and forums like the Counter Ransomware Initiative Summit to enhance shared capabilities to detect, disrupt, investigate and prosecute malicious cyber actors.”
Cyber crime costing the Australian economy $30 billion a year.
The war against data hackers is ramping up. In the wake of the Optus and Medibank scandals Canberra is looking at ways to defend our cyber borders by throwing up new internet blocks and making it illegal to pay data ransoms.