Britain and Australia announced the signing of a new 'Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership' on Thursday, with London saying the deal will "strengthen global technology supply chains, ensure the UK's positive technology vision and tackle malign actors who disrupt cyberspace."
The agreement, penned by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne during Truss's visit to Sydney, reportedly includes "provisions to build greater resilience to ransomware amongst Indo-Pacific nations and sharpen legal sanctions against cyber attackers." It will also "deepen practical cooperation on ensuring technology standards reflect our shared values," according to the British government.
"As champions of freedom and democracy, the UK and Australia are hard-headed in defending our values and challenging unfair practices and malign acts," Truss said in a press statement.
"In the battlegrounds of the future, cutting edge technologies will be crucial in the fight against malign cyber actors who threaten our peace and security. That's why today, the UK and Australia have agreed a new cyber and technology partnership to ensure that liberal democracies shape the technology rules of tomorrow," the foreign secretary added.
The cyber and tech partnership is one of a host of measures taken by the British 'champion of freedom and democracy' in recent months within the scope of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'Global Britain' initiative, which seeks to restore a measure of diplomatic, geopolitical and military power abroad for the UK post-Brexit.
The strategy includes an effort to revamp the British military's image as Europe's most formidable force, and to demonstrate the Royal Navy's ability to mount operations globally. That strategy got off to a dangerous start last June, when the RN deliberately sailed a destroyer into Crimean waters, forcing Russia to fire warning shots and sparking a diplomatic spat. Soon after, a British carrier group was deployed in the South China Sea despite Chinese warnings that Beijing would take measures to "safeguard its sovereignty and security" in that contested region.
In September, Australia, the UK and the United States signed AUKUS - a trilateral security pact providing Canberra with access to British and American nuclear submarine technology. The surprise pact gypped France out of a $65 billion contract it had with Australia to build 12 attack subs, sparking a slow-burning diplomatic conflict within the Western alliance, and concerns from China, Russia and North Korea that the security agreement may spark a regional arms race.
14 December 2021, 12:45 GMT