The UK and Australia have agreed to develop a “network of liberty” to counter malicious cyber actors and strengthen cooperation in digital security.
As global tensions rise and state-backed aggression increases, Western partnerships are being renewed. The UK–Australia relationship, one of the longest-standing defence and security alliances, is receiving particular attention.
“Britain and Australia share one of the oldest and strongest defence and security alliances,” said UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, emphasizing the two countries’ history of operating and exercising together to promote stability and address shared threats.
British and Australian ministers met for the first Australia–UK Foreign and Defence Ministerial (AUKMIN) since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The meeting focused on deepening collaboration across a range of security and technological areas.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss highlighted that, with the world facing increased aggression from malign actors, it is vital for the UK to strengthen and deepen partnerships with close allies. “Today, we have committed to new and enhanced opportunities to collaborate with Australia in areas including maritime security, counterterrorism, misinformation, cyber and technology,” she said.
Truss and Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced a new Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership. The initiative aims to bolster global technology supply chains, promote a positive technology agenda aligned with democratic values, and counter actors who disrupt cyberspace.
“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,” Truss remarked. “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.”
A central element of the partnership is supporting a “network of liberty” designed to deter cyberattacks proactively and publicly identify those responsible for malicious activity. Specific operational details were limited in the announcement, but officials said the two countries will work to “increase deterrence by raising the costs for hostile state activity in cyberspace — including through strategic coordination of our cyber sanctions regimes.”
The announcement builds on the AUKUS trilateral security partnership among the UK, Australia, and the United States, which already focuses on sharing and advancing capabilities in cyber operations, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and undersea systems.
“As champions of freedom and democracy, the UK and Australia are determined to defend our values and to challenge unfair practices and malign acts,” Truss concluded.
(Image credit: No. 10 Downing Street under Open Government Licence)
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