China targetting the region to Australia, says new cyber report

SYDNEY - Analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre of 97 national elections and 31 referendums held since the 2016 US Presidential election identifies 20 countries that had clear examples of foreign interference. The report was released today.

ASPI says the data reveals key challenges.

"First, while perceptions of interference are widespread, the actors are few--Russia and China--and the effort is highly targetted.

"Russia is targetting the US and Europe (with a few forays into South America), while China targets its region (having, for the moment, reached as far as Australia).

"Second, the methods used can be hard to pick up and democracies seem poorly equipped to detect intrusions, being traditionally focussed on external intelligence collection.

"Adversaries are able to enter public debates, infiltrate legitimate activist networks and even enter the mainstream media as trusted commentators," the report says.

"Significant activity may be being missed." www.aspi.org.au (ATI).