New laws in the pipeline to help ISPs block cyber threats
Internet service providers could be forced to provide so-called "cleaner pipes" and block threats such as malware and trojans that hijack computer systems, exposing the Morrison government to claims of attempted internet censorship.
Under the newly released cyber security strategy, the Morrison government is weighing up legislation to support telcos following Telstra's lead and rolling out software that automatically blocks known malicious content.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Scott Morrison want businesses, governments and the public to do more to improve cyber security. Alex Ellinghausen
The government also confirmed it would unleash the potent Australian Signals Directorate to snoop on Australians' communications, but promised its new powers will be limited to providing technical assistance to the federal police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to investigate serious crimes such as child sex abuse, terrorism and drug smuggling.
The law will need to be changed to allow ASD to conduct operations locally but Mr Dutton said it was quicker and avoided duplication to do this instead of building up the AFP's cyber capabilities.
"What we're proposing here is that the Australian Federal Police or the ACIC, with a warrant from a court knowing that somebody operating a server – whether it was in Seattle or Sydney – if they're targeting Australian citizens, that the Australian Federal Police or the ACIC, with that warrant from a court, would be able to target that paedophile network regardless of where they are in the world," he said.
"And they can only be exercised in relation to those people who are alleged to be committing very serious offences."
However Mr Dutton said the proposed powers don't give law enforcement agencies the ability to access end-to-end encrypted communications.
Labor said it would consider the proposed law changes.
Revelations the government was considering allowing ASD to spy on Australians sparked a firestorm over press freedom in 2019 when journalist Annika Smethurst had her home raided over her 2018 report that cited the classified deliberations. The federal police finally announced in May she would not be charged.
As well as expanding ASD's remit, the $1.67 billion cyber strategy will also create obligations on an expanded list of critical infrastructure providers such as banks, utilities companies, defence contractors and the food and grocery industry to strengthen their cyber defences.
It also creates new powers for the government's cyber authorities to intervene rapidly when a critical infrastructure provider comes under a cyber attack.
Asked how much of the cyber strategy was about defending Australian systems against China, which has been blamed for orchestrating a wave of cyber attacks, Scott Morrison said it was "about protecting Australians from wherever potential threats come".
"And those threats emerge in all sorts of different circumstances," he said.
Telstra leads 'cleaner pipes' push
The strategy also takes steps towards an industry-wide "cleaner pipes", giving the Australian Cyber Security Centre $12.5 million to provide telcos with information about known malicious websites, malware and phishing campaigns and online scams "to boost providers' ability to block threats at scale".
Telstra announced in May its Cleaner Pipes initiative, which automatically blocks millions of malware communications each week that attempt to infiltrate Telstra's network.
Telstra boss Andy Penn, who chaired the government's cyber security industry advisory panel, said by blocking a lot of malicious activity it allowed cyber security experts to focus on detecting more sophisticated attacks.
"It makes absolute sense to encourage cleaner pipes more broadly across the industry because I can only monitor traffic on my network and I'm not the only network in Australia," he said.
Fergus Hanson, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, said cleaner pipes was a bit of grey zone because some would argue it was tantamount to censoring parts of the internet.
"If you a free speech person you might say it's a slippery slope but given the amount of money being lost [to scams and identity theft], the minor curtailment of access is worth the trade-off," he said.
Opposition cyber security spokesman Tim Watts said the government's strategy failed to spell out how it would grow the industry and support Australian cyber security firms to export globally.
"In the context of a recession and pandemic, you think the government would be prioritising the development of a new industry we know will be in demand for many years to come and create high-wage, high-skilled jobs," he said.
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