Spying has never been so easy

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JONATHAN PEARLMAN NATIONAL SECURITY October 28, 2009

 

AUSTRALIA'S domestic spy agency has warned that foreign intelligence agencies have expanded their cyber-espionage and are developing new equipment to infiltrate Australian governments and businesses.
In its annual security review, ASIO labels terrorism as its top priority. It says internet-enabled hacking and spying and foreign interference remain serious risks and that the threats are becoming more sophisticated.
The review, tabled in Parliament yesterday, is an unclassified version of a highly sensitive report to the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland.
''The threat of hostile intelligence services exploiting Australian information systems was brought into sharper focus, with traditional espionage methods supplemented by new high-technology techniques,'' it says.
''ASIO found further evidence of hostile intelligence services using the internet as a means of appropriating confidential Australian government and business information.''
ASIO says ''small numbers of Australians'' continue to pose a terrorist threat and seek inspiration and resources from foreign conflict zones and failed states.
''The Middle East, South Asia and now East Africa are the primary sources of motivation and capability for extremists in Australia … and some aspire to participate in the violence or seek to learn from the tactics and techniques employed by extremists.''
The director-general, David Irvine, said counter-espionage experts were working with other security agencies to bolster electronic security for government and businesses.
''Today's increasingly interconnected world has great benefits, but it also provides new opportunities for state and non-state actors to advantage themselves at Australia's expense.''

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ASIO can’t be bothered: less accountable, less productive

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by Bernard Keane

If you caught Alan Ramsey on The 7.30 Report the other night, you’d have seen him complaining that the relentless expansion of ASIO has not been covered by the press gallery.
That’s a little harsh, because Crikey has tried to keep a watching brief on the apparently endless increase in ASIO’s budget.
The Howard years were good ones for ASIO, one of the least accountable public-sector agencies. Its funding surged, and it grew from a boutique intelligence outfit before 9/11 to a major state agency. But the Rudd government actually accelerated the increase in its funding. In May this year, ASIO received yet another whopping increase in its appropriation, along with yet another equity injection, taking its budget to a record far beyond the Howard years.
According to ASIO’s figures, its staffing has increased from less than 1000 in 2005 to nearly 1800, who will soon be shoe-horned into a new building being constructed to house them in Russell. That’s where those equity injections have been going.

But despite its constantly expanding funding, its 2008-09 “Report to Parliament”, or annual report, shows an organisation doing less work and being less accountable.
Measuring ASIO’s performance is difficult, because, while it is notionally bound by the same outcome/output/KPIs framework as other public sector agencies, its performance indicators, such as  ”ASIO’s security performance” make even the vague bureaucratese found in most departmental portfolio budget statements look like rigid targets.
But the Report to Parliament gives us some data. The report says it produces 2738 reports and assessments for a variety of clients. “The audience for ASIO reporting is diverse and expanded in 2008-09,” it says. But that’s actually well down on the 3224 reports it made in 2007-08. The number of visa security assessments fell by 18%. That was partly because the bulk of the work for World Youth Day had been done in 2007-08, but the bigger fall was in applications for permanent residency, not temporary visas.
The amount of litigation ASIO was involved in was unchanged. “ASIO was involved in over 60 litigation matters,” the report says  —   the 2007-08 and 2008-09 reports. They certified less than half the top secret sites than they did the year before. Counter-terrorism assessments fell for the third year running, and were less than half what they were in 2006-07. ASIO provided 230 briefs to the Attorney-General compared to 249 the previous year. There were even two fewer internal audits than the previous year.
Admittedly, there was a 1% increase in the number of personnel security assessments ASIO did.
But based on ASIO’s own figures, quite what all those hundreds of extra staff are doing is anyone’s guess. You certainly won’t work it out from the Report to Parliament .
And one thing they’re not doing is preparing the annual report. When you write an annual report in the public service, you tend to start with the previous year’s, and update it, then rewrite it so it doesn’t look too much like a cut-and-paste job. But there are repeated instances where ASIO simply reprints material from the 2007-08 report. The section on espionage is mostly taken verbatim from the 2007-08 report.
On the minor issue of proliferation, the report simply reprints the same anodyne paragraphs as the year before, concluding on “with particular emphasis on Iran”. Want to know about leads analysis? You can just look at 2008’s report. “ASIO obtains thousands of intelligence/ new leads each year/ annually … In 2007/08/ 2008-09 , ASIO continued to work closely with Commonwealth, State and Territory law enforcement authorities to resolve/ investigate and resolve intelligence leads …”
And much of the sections on Corporate Governance and Accountability are cut-and-pasted from previous years, although comfortingly there’s a new “new building committee” spoke in the ASIO wheel of corporate governance.
In previous years, ASIO’s reports have been like every other agency’s — i.e. roughly the same in structure and outline as previous years but written differently and updated effectively. This year it looks like they couldn’t be bothered. Says something about their sense of accountability to Parliament. And on the basis of the evidence they have presented to Parliament, their continued increases in funding have no justification.

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ASIO building to be five star

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The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) says its new Canberra headquarters will have a five star environmental rating.

The $600 million building on Constitution Avenue in Parkes is under construction and will eventually house 1,800 staff and operate 24 hours a day.
Nearby residents and the Walter Burley Griffin Society have criticised the construction, saying it is a barbed wire city in the heart of Canberra.
But ASIO's annual report says the building will accommodate the Griffin Legacy Plan in a number of ways, including the height of the building and the main exterior finish.
The report says it will include a range of environmentally-sustainable design elements including solar panels, energy efficient lighting, storm water harvesting and an active ventilation system.
The building is expected to open in late 2012.

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Software Developer – Canberra Based

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Your focus will be developing and maintaining ASIO’s corporate applications across a widely distributed enterprise environment.

        

It’s no secret that ASIO is here to protect Australia from terrorism and espionage. Intelligence gathering is our focus. Working with in a complex security environment, you’ll soon discover there is something more to this role.

Our Business Information Systems Directorate is responsible for delivering ICT Solutions to the organisation. As a Software Developer within this team you will liaise with the whole client base of ASIO’s business information systems.

In this role you will provide a high level of service delivery to customers including technical advice on complex problems and innovative options to help meet long term strategic development of ASIO’s corporate applications. Your focus will be developing and maintaining ASIO’s corporate applications across a widely distributed enterprise environment.

Your technical knowledge will include one or all of the following technologies .Net,C#, Java, HMTL and CSS. Having a strong understanding in developing technical documentation and developing web based applications will contribute to your effectiveness in this role.

As a self starter you will work independently and manage your own workload. You enjoy working in a small team of professionals. Utilising your strong communications skills you’ll interact with your clients and keep them informed.Your positive attitude and good sense of humour will see you fit right into the team. Tertiary qualifications in computing or a related discipline, and/or comprehensive level of industry qualifications and related experience will be highly regarded.

Take your skills; improve on them; apply them in ways you never thought possible.

Please note that this role is based in Canberra.

For more information head to ASIO.GOV.AU

Closing date: Friday 6 November 2009.

Applicants must be Australian citizens

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ASIO busy fending hostile cyber probes

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Article from: The Australian

A SHARP increase in cyber attacks including internet probes by "hostile foreign intelligence services" marked the busiest year since 2005 for the country's peak security service, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

ASIO's annual report to federal parliament released yesterday, cited "new layers of complexity" to the standard fare of terrorism threats, espionage and foreign interference.

The most serious national security challenge in 2008-09 was the thwarting by ASIO of an alleged plan by Melbourne-based Islamic extremists for an armed suicide assault on an Australian Defence Force facility, the report said.

"Small numbers of Australians continue to look to conflict theatres overseas for inspiration and some aspire to participate in the violence or seek to learn from the tactics and techniques employed by extremists there," it warned.

"The number of known Islamic extremists - those willing to use violence in pursuit of political objectives - in Australia is very small but significant, and did not change substantially in 2008-09," the report added.

ASIO found further evidence of unamed hostile foreign intelligence services using the internet in a bid to access confidential Australian government information systems including business information systems.

The year saw traditional espionage methods supplemented by new high-technology techniques.

"The extent of internet-enabled espionage as a rapidly growing threat to the national interest became more apparent," it noted.

Adverse security assessments were issued against two unamed individuals seeking entry to Australia in 2008-09.

The visa applicants were assessed to pose a security threat due to links to a terrorist group or a foreign government, said the report.

A total of 59,884 visa security assessments including 1466 assessments for protection visa applicants were completed by ASIO over the same period.

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Foreign spies hack into Government

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Foreign spies are increasingly using the internet to hack into Government computers, including in an attempt to get information that could be used for weapons of mass destruction, ASIO says.
''ASIO found further evidence of hostile intelligence services using the internet as a means of appropriating confidential Australian Government and business information,'' its latest annual report said.
''State-sponsored efforts to procure materiel and knowledge for weapons programs including weapons of mass destruction continued in 2009-09.''
ASIO director-general David Irvine said internet-enabled espionage was a rapidly growing threat to the national interest.
''Whereas our focus was once on nation states and their human agents, the threat is now more varied and today's response requires high technology to be joined with traditional tradecraft. ASIO's counter espionage expertise is being combined with specialist capability residing in other national security community agencies,'' he said.
''Today's increasingly interconnected world has great benefits, but it also provides new opportunities for state and non-state actors to advantage themselves at Australia's expense. Espionage and foreign interference, for example, threaten not only the integrity of our national institutions but also our economic competitiveness and community cohesion.
''Like terrorism, espionage and foreign interference is enabled by technology and the free flow of people, goods and ideas across borders.''
Australia would remain a terrorist target for the foreseeable future. It said East Africa joined the Middle East and South Asia as the ''primary sources of motivation and capability for extremists in Australia''.
''Small numbers of Australians continue to look to conflict theatres overseas for inspiration and some aspire to participate in the violence or seek to learn from the tactics and techniques employed by extremists there,'' it said.
The number of ''known Islamic extremists those willing to use violence in pursuit of political objectives in Australia is very small but significant and did not change substantially in 2008-09''.
Australians were more likely to be targeted overseas than at home, and ASIO said Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba was ''particularly noteworthy in light of the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi, India in 2010''. Indonesian based Jemaah Islamiyah blamed for the Bali bombings was ''in a consolidation and rebuilding phase, but has not abandoned its violent Islamist goals''.


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ASIO reports intense activity

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The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), says it has had its most intense period of operational activity since 2005.

ASIO's annual report says in the last financial year it detected and responded to a new alleged terrorist cell - the group of Melbourne based Islamic extremists planing to attack a military base.

It also picked up internet espionage as a rapidly growing threat to Government and business information.

The organisation rejected visas for two people considered security concerns either because of links to terrorist organisations or foreign governments.

It says small numbers of Australians continue to look to overseas conflicts for inspiration and some aspire to go to join in or learn from the tactics employed there.

But it says communal violence within Australia is overall a low level concern and most protest activity was peaceful.

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Fewer cops on beat but spies are on the rise

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Article from: The Australian

TWO years after Kevin Rudd came to power with a promise to boost the ranks of the Australian Federal Police, the number of sworn officers has dropped.

But while there appear to be fewer cops on the beat, the number of spies is on the rise, with ASIO reporting an overall increase in personnel.

Despite people-smuggling, terrorism and a renewed focus on organised crime and cyber offences increasing the workload, the AFP's annual report reveals a slight drop in numbers.

The report, released yesterday, suggests a renewed focus on domestic crime, with funding for core crime-fighting areas such as drugs and cyber offences taking more of the agency's budget.

According to the report, the number of sworn police declined from 2855 in 2007-08 to 2842 in 2008-09. The drop represents a broken promise by the Rudd government, which committed to recruiting 500 over five years.

The pledge was criticised by the Coalition as being too heavily weighted to the end of the five-year period with 30 of the extra officers to be recruited in the first two years, 40 in the third and 200 in the fourth and fifth years.

Australian Federal Police Association chief executive Jim Torr said yesterday the drop in numbers was worrying and at odds with the Prime Minister's pre-election promises.

Last night, the Government said the number of Federal Police agents had "remained steady".

"This variation is in keeping with the normal fluctuations in numbers throughout the year," a spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said.

Overall, ASIO's staff numbers increased from 1492 in 2007-08 to 1690 in 2008-09.

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