US, Australia team up on cybersecurity

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon today said that the US and Australia have agreed on a statement of intent to increase collaboration on cybersecurity.

"The new and emerging challenges of a digital economy were the subject of recent talks in Canberra between myself and secretary [of the US Department of Homeland Security, Janet] Napolitano. And yesterday, in Washington, we built upon those discussions," Roxon said in a statement.

Countries are ever more reliant on critical infrastructure, such as telecommunications, she said, which are the backbone of increasingly important online commerce. Because of this, Australia and the US have to increase their resilience to malicious activity, she said.

"This statement will lead to increased collaboration between the two countries on critical infrastructure, particularly digital control systems."

Australia will now share information on operational security between their national cyber-incident teams, exchange security best practices for IT and industrial-control systems, work together on cybersecurity exercises and encourage training and education on security.

Officials will meet to decide on a timetable of work, and to uncover issues that might arise. The governments have previously signed statements for increased intelligence sharing and easier travel between the countries.