China, Australia in anti-cyber theft pact

Australia has agreed a cyber security pact with Beijing under which both countries have pledged not to conduct or support the theft of intellectual property or trade secrets from each other. The agreement follows a specific request made by Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his state visit to Australia last month, and reflects growing concern in the west about state-sponsored hacking and cyber crime. According to the Financial Times, Canberra has stepped up its focus on cyber crime and espionage following its admission last year that government networks had in 2015 suffered a state-sponsored cyber attack that initially targeted the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Peter Jennings, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said he had “no doubt whatsoever that the Chinese were responsible for the meteorology bureau attack.”