Dili draws a line in the sand over sea boundaries

Nikkei Asian Review:

"A 2006 treaty shelved the boundary issue for 50 years and gave East Timor a 50% share in the Greater Sunrise gas field, which sits in the disuputed zone, up from the 18% it would have received without the treaty. But East Timor maintains that the deal has been voided by revelations that Australian spies eavesdropped on Timorese negotiators during the negotiations in the mid-2000s."



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Election 2016: Shadow of long-forgotten Iraq falls over campaign

 afr.com:

"The 2003 decision to invade Iraq was just as controversial then as it remains today, in the US, the UK and in Australia.

Part of the political drama that played out here involved an officer of an arm of Australia's national security establishment. In the Office of National Assessments, Andrew Wilkie resigned in protest in early 2003 at what he claimed was government manipulation of intelligence material on Iraq (and became an MP in 2010)."



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Why Chinese investment is nowhere near as big as you think

 afr.com:

"Some are keen to suggest it is. When the lease to operate Darwin Port was sold to a Chinese privately owned company last year, some defence hawks claimed this might facilitate spying by the Chinese state and undermine Australia's security alliance with the US.

But the chiefs of the Department of Defence, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) all rejected such fearmongering."



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ASIO just doing its job on Paul Dibb KGB probe: ex-spy officer

theAustralian:

A former ASIO officer has def­ended the spy agency’s decision to investigate defence expert Paul Dibb about his contacts with KGB agents in the Cold War.

“ASIO was just doing its job when it investigated Dibb,” said Molly Sasson, who worked on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s Soviet espionage desk in Canberra in the 1970s."



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More eyes on ransomware

IT World Canada News:

"On Saturday the Globe and Mail reported that the Five Eyes group of intelligence-sharing countries — Canada, the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand — are making a major effect to attack the sources of ransomware. One RCMP official is quoted as saying it looks like criminals are industrializing cybercrime with ransomware."



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Wilkie denies leaking top secret document

The Mercury:

 "“The facts of this matter are as follows,” Mr Wilkie said yesterday.

“In early 2003 I resigned as a senior intelligence analyst at the Office of National Assessments over the Government’s fraudulent reasons for joining in the invasion of Iraq."



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CIA secret assessment: Bob Hawke brash, Gareth Evans brilliant

theAustralian:

"A secret CIA dossier on the Hawke government in 1988 ­describes Bob Hawke as brash, ­irreverent and willing to act against US interests for domestic politics while Gareth Evans was a brilliant but arrogant and ­impatient foreign minister."



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AFP suspected Andrew Wilkie of leaking ‘top secret’ security document

theAustralian:

 "The police findings from 2004 are a disappointment for Labor as it has long suspected the highly classified document, which Mr Wilkie had helped produce as an intelligence analyst at the Office of National Assessments, was leaked in June 2003 by an adviser in ­Alexander Downer’s office, Josh Frydenberg, now a cabinet minister in the Turnbull government."



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Terror risk has escalated tenfold, says academic

theAustralian:

 "Professor Barton noted that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and Australian Federal Police had been bolstered considerably. “But there is no way we can increase the ­resources tenfold to match a tenfold increase in the number of people of concern,’’ Professor Barton said."



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New mini-series Secret City puts Canberra on the world stage

canberraTimes:

 "And when they needed some locations to shoot internals, Chris Uhlmann simply called Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron – "Is there anyone in Canberra Chris doesn't know?" asks Werner – who came to the party with locations to set up the Prime Minister's office and the supposed offices of the Australian Signals Directorate, complete with mobile phone lockers and eye scanners."



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CIA ‘sent agent to probe KGB tie’, says 1977 report

theAustralian:

 "The CIA believed ASIO had been penetrated by the KGB during the Fraser government years and sent a senior agent to uncover the suspected mole.

Damning confidential documents from that time reveal the US Central Intelligence Agency believed ASIO had no idea of the sophistication of Soviet spy ­activities in Australia in the late 1970s and the threat they posed to the Western alliance."



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ASIO sting the ultimate betrayal

theAustralian:

"In Moscow this week, retired KGB agent Lev Koshlyakov broke a 30-year silence to admit that he always suspected Australia’s pre-eminent defence analyst, Paul Dibb, had lived a double life as an Australian spy."



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Japan on Olympic hacking mission

 The Register:

"Governments around the world have in recent years created departments charged with bringing together critical infrastructure operators including those running utilities, banks, and transport.

In Australia that effort is part of the Trusted Information Sharing Network and the overhauled Australian Cyber Security Centre."



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The road to a police state: how 'anti-terrorism' is destroying democracy

Red Flag:

"One of the major legal transformations associated with the introduction of the various anti-terror acts in the 15 years since 9/11 has been the normalisation of the idea that you can be charged with a crime that you have yet to commit.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has the right to seek warrants that allow the detention of someone suspected or someone related to someone suspected of considering a terror offence. This person can be detained in custody with no right to confidential legal counsel and no right to see the evidence brought against them."



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Could Australia's Tougher FDI Review Put Off Further Chinese Investment? | Economy Watch

Economy Watch:

"In response to recent Chinese interest in infrastructure assets, the Australian government is under pressure to tighten its foreign investment review framework on national security grounds.

So far, the changes have been measured. The Treasurer has made the sale of state government-owned critical infrastructure assets to privately owned foreign companies subject to review by Treasury’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). David Irvine, former Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and a former ambassador to China, was also appointed to FIRB to boost its capacity to provide national security advice to the Treasurer."



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FBI: Sydney Siege Gunman had Raised Incitement Concerns

voNews:

"Monis was on authorities' radars for years before the siege. He arrived in Australia on a business visa in 1996 and was made a citizen in 2004. Before being granted citizenship, he was interviewed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation multiple times for security assessments required as part of the immigration process. The agency ultimately found he wasn't a security risk."



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Australia's indefinite detention of refugees illegal

The Guardian:

"The latest adjudication by the UN human rights committee relates to five refugees – one Iranian, three Sri Lankan Tamils and one Afghan Hazara – who were illegally detained between 2009 and 2015 because the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation had made an “adverse security assessment” against each of them.


'We are the forgotten people': the anguish of Australia's 'invisible' asylum seekers
Read more
They were recognised as refugees by Australia – “for whom return to their countries of origin was unsafe” the committee said – but were refused visas on security grounds."



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It's about time Australian businesses invested in cyber security

SecurityBrief Australia:

"Cyber crime costs Australia upwards of a billion dollars every year, and many large companies have been the target of malicious attacks, including Kmart, David Jones, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Australian Government Parliamentary Services. 

However, many Australian businesses also fail to publicly acknowledge that they have been breached, meaning this figure may well be higher. Indeed, the Australian Signals Directorate was called in to review more than 1,200 cyber attacks last year, up from 940 in 2014, while at least 60 attacks plagued Australian energy networks in 2014-2015.  "



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Election 2016: how a change of government in Australia might change the world

smh:

 "Labor has pledged to open "good faith" talks with East Timor to carve up the sea boundary, which dictates who owns rich underwater oil and gas deposits. The background to this policy is complex, but put simply, East Timor is livid about revelations that Australian spies bugged the cabinet office in the tiny nation back in 2004, just as a treaty dividing the resources was being negotiated."



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Privacy: why does it matter?

Lexology:

"Take steps to secure the information you hold. The OAIC and the Australian Signals Directorate provide useful guidance on the steps you should take."



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