Home Affairs boss orders government-wide sweep for foreign cyber threats inside vulnerable technology

A comprehensive audit will be conducted into all internet-facing technology used by Commonwealth agencies, in a series of formal directions quietly issued by Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster.

The instructions come over rising concerns about foreign interference and influence threats.

Details of how the threat mitigation activity will be funded have not been outlined, but the directives have been welcomed by leading cyber security figures.

A comprehensive audit will be conducted into all internet-facing technology used by Commonwealth agencies over rising concerns about foreign interference and influence threats.

In a series of formal directions quietly issued late last week, Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster has instructed each federal government body to identify and mitigate potential risks.

Under the formal instructions it will now also be mandatory for the Commonwealth's almost 200 entities and companies to share cyber threat information with the Australian Signals Directorate.

The three Protective Service Policy Framework (PSPF) directives are believed to be only the second time the binding powers have been used, with the first involving last year's ban of Chinese-owned application TikTok from Commonwealth devices.

On the same day the secretary's directions were issued, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil also unveiled a series of new measures to counter foreign interference threats in the wider Australian community.

Under PSPF Direction 001-2024, government entities are told "to identify indicators of Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (FOCI) risk as they relate to procurement and maintenance of technology assets and appropriately manage and report those risks".

"Foreign interference occurs when activity carried out by, or on behalf of, a foreign power, is coercive, corrupting, deceptive or clandestine, and contrary to Australia's sovereignty, values and national interests," the directive explains.

Government entities are told to "implement a process when undertaking procurement of technology assets to identify and manage potential FOCI risks" before June next year.

In the second directive Ms Foster orders "a technology asset stocktake on all internet-facing systems or services to identify all technology assets managed by, or on behalf of, the entity".

Additionally, Commonwealth entities are directed to "develop a technology security risk management plan for all internet-facing systems or services, as part of the entity's overall security plan".

According to the third directive it will now also be mandatory for all "Australian government entities using threat intelligence sharing platforms to share cyber threat information with the Australian Signals Directorate".

Details of how the threat mitigation activity will be funded have not been outlined and the Department of Home Affairs has so far not responded to questions from the ABC, but the directives have been welcomed by leading cyber security figures.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-09/home-affairs-boss-orders-sweep-for-foreign-cyber-threats/104072418

>>21163867

CIA op

Imagine thinking you are the world leader

When you are getting fucked in the ASS

By another country who destroys and

steals everything Good and gives it to

your enemies and is now flooding your

country with illegals and pointing this out

makes you a bigot!

Fuck yeah merica the biggest bitch in history!

Ukraine violates Chemical Weapons Convention – Russian MoD

A facility has been found near the Donbass town of Avdeevka that was used to produce the highly toxic hydrogen cyanide, Moscow has said

Russia has found evidence that Ukraine has violated the Chemical Weapons Convention, a top military commander stated on Monday.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who leads Russia’s chemical and biological defense forces, said that the engineering troops discovered a laboratory that was apparently used to produce hydrogen cyanide – an extremely dangerous and highly toxic agent that had been used as a chemical weapon during World War I.

The facility is located near Avdeevka, a fortified Donbass town liberated by Russia in February, the general said. The improvised laboratory itself was found inside a partially partially destroyed building in an industrial area, which also had a chemical processing plant. The facility had a rotary evaporator and several chemical reactors. Protective clothes, including US-made gas masks and Polish hazmat suits, were found on the site.

According to Kirillov, the samples taken from the facility and analyzed in Russian military laboratories contained traces of sulfuric acid and sodium cyanide, which can be used to produce hydrogen cyanide. Traces of cyanide anions – poisonous chemical compounds of the cyano group – were on multiple equipment, the general said.

The evidence “clearly shows that the laboratory was used to manufacture poisonous substances,” Kirillov stated. According to the Russian Defense Ministry’s estimates, the facility was capable of producing at least three kilograms of chemical agents per day if operated by just two or three people. Hydrogen cyanide can kill a person if they inhale just 70 to 80 milligrams of the agent.

During his briefing, Kirillov noted hydrogen cyanide is among the Chemical Weapons Convention’s so-called “Schedule 3 chemicals” – agents with large-scale industrial uses that have the potential of being used for chemical warfare. He added that, in May 2024, civilians in the Avdeevka region showed symptoms consistent with the hydrogen cyanide poisoning after Ukrainian military drones dropped bombs in the area. Another case was reported in Russia’s Belgorod Region, where Ukrainian ammunition fragments were found that had traces of hydrogen cyanide, Kirillov said.

Kirillov also cited a Ukrainian POW, whom he identified as Sergey Batyr, of confirming that laboratories that stored chemical agents were also used to make kamikaze drones.

In March 2022, Russia accused Ukraine of running a secret biological weapons program with the help of the US. Kiev has denied having biological weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. The Pentagon has described Russia’s claims as “absurd” and “laughable.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/600675-ukraine-violate-chemical-weapons-convention/