Published on the 29/06/2017 | Written by Jonathan Cotton

Battle over private data heats up…

Australia has again used the rationale of fighting homegrown terror to push for greater powers to pressure local tech companies into handing over users’ private encrypted messages, and has urged other countries – the US, UK, Canada and NZ – to follow suit.

On Sunday, the government announced its plans to use this week’s closed-door Five Eyes talks to demand greater power to “break communications”, saying that tackling terrorist use of cyberspace was an issue of “critical concern”.

“Australia will lead the discussion of ways to address this issue; in particular the involvement of industry in thwarting the encryption of terrorist messaging,” Senator Brandis said in a statement.

“As Australia’s priority issue, I will raise the need to address ongoing challenges posed by terrorists and criminals using encryption. These discussions will focus on the need to cooperate with service providers to ensure reasonable assistance is provided to law enforcement and security agencies,” Brandis said.

This isn’t the first time he has signalled a desire to compel businesses to hand over hitherto private data. Earlier this month Brandis stated he was a fan of the the UK’s approach – specifically the Investigatory Powers Act – which represents some of the widest-ranging spying powers ever seen. The policy has been described by controversial CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden as “extreme surveillance”.

The existing laws “don’t go far enough in imposing obligations of cooperation upon the corporates,” Brandis told Sky News.

Though many are critical of the proposal, such changes to the legislation would be in keeping with public sentiment he said.

“I think there has been a change in the culture in the last year or more. There is a much greater conscious, pro-active willingness on the part of the companies to be cooperative, but I think we need the legal sanction as well”.

The sentiments were echoed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the weekend at the Liberal Party’s 59th Federal Council, where he spoke of the necessity for sweeping governmental control.

“When we talk about the rule of law, we have to recognise that there can be no ungoverned spaces,” Turnbull said. “Ungoverned spaces pose great risks. The Internet cannot be an ungoverned space,” the told the assembly.

The move echoes last week’s demands by the Russian government that Western tech giants IBM, SAP, Cisco and Symantec hand over the source code for firewall and anti-virus products for review before permitting those items to be sold in the country.

The Russian government claims that the move is to ensure no ‘back doors’ exist in the software which could jeopardise Russian security systems. US security experts have expressed concerns, however, that such a move would provide Russia with the opportunity to identify and exploit security flaws in the very same software, putting the US and other countries at risk.

So far IBM, SAP, Cisco, HPE, McAfee have all consented to Russian examination of their source code, with Symantec the only company to refuse cooperation (and, presumably, take the hit on its top line) so far.

“In the case of Russia, we decided the protection of our customer base through the deployment of uncompromised security products was more important than pursuing an increase in market share in Russia,” Symantec spokeswoman Kirsten Batch is quoted as saying.

Russia’s cyber capability is becoming an increasing concern to Western cybersecurity experts.

Earlier this year the United Kingdom’s defense secretary Michael Fallon said that Russia had used “cyber weaponry” to “disrupt critical infrastructure” and “disable democratic machinery”, and urged Europe to prepare for a NATO-led response.

Russia’s actions against targets associated with the 2016 US presidential election, “including targets associated with both major US political parties” were a key concern, he said.

“Russia is clearly testing NATO and the West,” he said. “It is seeking to expand its sphere of influence, destabilize countries, and weaken the Alliance.”

“Therefore, it is in our interest and Europe’s to keep NATO strong and to deter and dissuade Russia from this course.”