A new Australian Infrastructure Bill that gives the government considerable powers in the event of a high-risk cyberattack is in the process of being passed. Yet the Bill has been criticised by a coalition of Australian and US tech companies, while the government pushes to get its new permissions “fast-tracked”.
The Australian government is in the process of introducing an enhanced regulatory framework, building on existing requirements under the Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has made 14 recommendations and looks to amend the SOCI Act to add three permissions. The tech coalition’s specific concerns relate to Part 3A of the Act, which allows “government assistance to relevant entities for critical infrastructure sector assets in response to significant cyberattacks that impact on Australia’s critical infrastructure assets”.
According to a report by The Australian newspaper, if the permissions are granted, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), a government agency in charge of cyber warfare and information security, would be able to take over control of critical infrastructure such as energy, communications and banking systems.
The Critical Infrastructure Bill will be introduced to parliament on October 27, with bipartisan support from the committee that examined it.
Tech Industry Doesn’t Agree
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), Cybersecurity Coalition and the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) are opposing the bill and stated in a letter to Karen Andrews MP, Minister for Home Affairs, that they were “disappointed” by the fact that no changes were made after they had given recommendations, and that the Bill was to be “fast-tracked and pushed through as a separate Bill, without further public consultation”.
The PJCIS recommended that emergency powers be swiftly legislated in a stand-alone bill, with a second, separate bill to be introduced following further consultation. The tech coalition stated in the joint letter that “without significant revision, the bill will create an unworkable set of obligations and set a troubling global precedent”.
While the government asserts that this power is intended only as a measure of last resort to address “cybersecurity incidents”, the Bill provides the government with unprecedented and far-reaching powers, which can impact the networks, systems and customers of domestic and international entities, and should be subject to a statutorily prescribed mechanism for judicial review and oversight.
Tech coalition letter
The group strongly urged the Australian government to consider the precedent the Bill sets for Australia’s trade partners in addressing national security risks, as well as the challenges Australian companies may face in other markets if these requirements are replicated by other governments.
The Increasing Importance of Cybersecurity
This comes after a new Ransomware Action Plan, released last week, that allows Australian authorities to seize or freeze financial transactions in cryptocurrencies that are associated with cybercrime, regardless of their country of origin.
The PJCIS has stated that the “threat of cybersecurity vulnerability and malicious cyber activity has become increasingly evident in recent years”, with about a quarter of reported cybersecurity incidents affecting critical infrastructure organisations.
According to Senator James Paterson, chair of the parliamentary committee: “While sympathetic to the concerns of industry leaders, the committee does not believe that pausing the entire Bill is in Australia’s national interests given the immediate cyber threats that our nation faces”, adding that “the committee’s recommended solution allows for urgent measures to pass now to equip the government with the emergency powers it needs, while allowing additional time for co-design to overcome the concerns of industry about the regulatory impact”.
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