Cyber Security !

The theft of trade secrets has been ongoing for centuries and was one of the reasons  the British empire accumulated wealth.   One of the most noticeable exploits was that most British institution - a cup of tea.

The tea plant was originally a closely guarded horticulture of China and the British smuggled growing samples out of the country to create vast tea gardens in colonies with the right soil and temperature mix.   The creation of sugar plantations followed a similar pattern and eventually these products tweaked the taste buds of both England and Europe - and created fortunes for the entrepreneurs involved.

It is now evident that our western lifestyle is under direct attack by a combination of civil and military " information gatherers " in China.   The Chinese Communist government has no respect for what is termed the " intellectual property " of other nations.  The closed nature of its regime means that most companies are deeply affiliated with the government and state hackers constantly launch extraction attacks on the computers of western competitors to learn their secrets.  The aim is to equip Chinese manufacturing with a cutting edge and dominate world trade.

When it comes to security, we are our own worst enemies.  It is amazing how many companies have the most rudimentary defence in place to protect their computer system from penetration, despite repeated warnings from security experts telling them of their vulnerabilities.   Often the companies under successful attack are connected with our military procurement industry.

The cyber security people have been warning us that Chinese espionage is moving into high gear. So many firms simply contract with a provider of " cloud services " to store their valuable research and have the expectation that these providers have peak security.  Sadly, in many cases penetration has not only been successful but access doors have been secretly installed to  facilitate multiple re-entry.

Another great avenue of research and development is concentrated in our universities and once again security is lax.  The tertiary profile is not suited to the protection of research and all too often valuable information is freely offered in research papers which are openly published.   The fact that our universities attract students from China is another source of security concern.

We are at a disadvantage when the hacking is perpetrated by experts trained by the Chinese military and using the most hi-tech equipment.  They are well funded and have the ability to be patient, perfecting penetration methods and taking their time stealing passwords by carefully studying the habits and lifestyle of individual input operators.

This ongoing trade war has thrown off all the shackles.  Our government has no option than to impose security by diktat where defence equipment and national security is involved.  We are well served by what is called out " Five Eyes " security arrangement between the US, Canada, the UK and New Zealand to share security resources.  The only missing link seems to be to get Australian research and manufacturing to take security seriously, and that may take a heavy handed approach to be successful.