The Coalition has delivered a strong warning about the threat to
Australia posed by China's cyber espionage and declared that the spying
must be stopped.
Opposition defence spokesman David Johnson said bluntly yesterday it was clear that a notorious unit run by the People's Liberation Army in Shanghai had hacked into the computer systems of Australia's mining industry and into the federal parliament's website.
Senator Johnson, who may be defence minister after the September 7 elections, was speaking during a defence policy debate hosted in Canberra by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Chinese hackers said to belong to a PLA group know as Unit 61398 have been accused of breaking into the computer networks of government and private buildings in Australia in recent years.
It has also been claimed that Chinese hackers managed to steal plans of the new ASIO headquarters in Canberra from a contractor involved in fitting out the building. However, senior officials have since denied that plans were in fact obtained by the hackers.
Senator Johnston and the Minister for Defence Materiel, Mike Kelly, who has been named by Kevin Rudd as the next defence minister if Labor retains government, were asked how they would protect Australia against the growing threat of cyber attack.
Senator Johnston said he'd been briefed on cyber attacks by the Defence Signals Directorate
"PLA 3 out of Shanghai is a problem," Senator Johnston said.
"Our miners know it. The parliamentary website knows it because that's been done over, hacked.
"The current status of the Chinese libertarian view on intellectual property and its capacity to be ripped off can not continue.
"That's the message we will seek to engage them on because as time goes by they themselves will acquire intellectual property that they will want to retain."
Senator Johnston said Australian authorities were doing a very good job of protecting the nation against such attacks.
Senator Johnston said such work was expensive.
He said incoming Coalition government would see if the work could be done better.
Dr Kelly said the Labor government had put a major effort into coordinating protection for Australia's cyber networks by setting up the Cyber Security Operations Centre.
And, he said, the National Broadband Network now being rolled out by Labor would be much more difficult to hack into than the Coalition's less sophisticated alternative.
Opposition defence spokesman David Johnson said bluntly yesterday it was clear that a notorious unit run by the People's Liberation Army in Shanghai had hacked into the computer systems of Australia's mining industry and into the federal parliament's website.
Senator Johnson, who may be defence minister after the September 7 elections, was speaking during a defence policy debate hosted in Canberra by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Chinese hackers said to belong to a PLA group know as Unit 61398 have been accused of breaking into the computer networks of government and private buildings in Australia in recent years.
It has also been claimed that Chinese hackers managed to steal plans of the new ASIO headquarters in Canberra from a contractor involved in fitting out the building. However, senior officials have since denied that plans were in fact obtained by the hackers.
Senator Johnston and the Minister for Defence Materiel, Mike Kelly, who has been named by Kevin Rudd as the next defence minister if Labor retains government, were asked how they would protect Australia against the growing threat of cyber attack.
Senator Johnston said he'd been briefed on cyber attacks by the Defence Signals Directorate
"PLA 3 out of Shanghai is a problem," Senator Johnston said.
"Our miners know it. The parliamentary website knows it because that's been done over, hacked.
"The current status of the Chinese libertarian view on intellectual property and its capacity to be ripped off can not continue.
"That's the message we will seek to engage them on because as time goes by they themselves will acquire intellectual property that they will want to retain."
Senator Johnston said Australian authorities were doing a very good job of protecting the nation against such attacks.
Senator Johnston said such work was expensive.
He said incoming Coalition government would see if the work could be done better.
Dr Kelly said the Labor government had put a major effort into coordinating protection for Australia's cyber networks by setting up the Cyber Security Operations Centre.
And, he said, the National Broadband Network now being rolled out by Labor would be much more difficult to hack into than the Coalition's less sophisticated alternative.
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