Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs has recently launched Australia’s International Cyber and Critical Technology Engagement Strategy.
The aim of this strategy is “to deliver a safer, more secure and prosperous cyberspace across Australia, the Indo-Pacific and the world.”
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the flagship Cyber Cooperation Program will become the Cyber and Critical Tech Cooperation Program, including an additional $20.5 million to strengthen cyber and critical technology resilience in Southeast Asia.
Three grants have been successful under the Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership program.
These include, the University of Sydney and India’s Observer Research Foundation.
Australia’s La Trobe University, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar.
The University of Sydney, in partnership with the University of New South Wales, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and Reliance Jio.
The grant given to La Trobe University, IIT – Kanpur and IIT – Gandhinagar will fund new research aiming “to identify and improve current practices and associated loopholes in data protection policies in different industry sectors across supply chains.”
This collaborative project will provide Australian and India business with improved ethical policy and practice when outsourcing their technology to Indian providers.
Prof. Suzanne Young, Associate Provost and College Pro Vice-Chancellor for the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce at La Trobe University, says:
“In terms of Australia’s Cyber Engagement Strategy, it’s important that this project focuses on how multinational companies outsource their digital practices to companies in India, and which frameworks are operationalised in their business practice.”
From July 2019 to June 2020, the Australian Cyber Security Centre responded to 2,266 cyber security incidents involving malicious cyber activity and ransomware.
Prof. Young says such incidents may “prevent users from embracing cyber technologies.”
Professor Young will work alongside Professor Naveen Chilamkurti and Professor Damminda Alahakoon from La Trobe University, Professor Murali Prasad Panta from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and Dr Sameer G Kulkarni from IIT Gandhinagar.
Prof. Murali Prasad Panta from the Department of Economic Sciences at IIT Kampur, says:
“Our present study on ethics and critical technologies of the core industries will minimise transaction costs of the parties involved and promote overall well being of the nations, and we look forward to collaborating with our Australian colleagues.”
Prof. Alahakoon, who is the Director of the Research Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition (CDAC), is very excited to be working on this project.
“The grant has opened up a very valuable opportunity to demonstrate and validate Australian Artificial Intelligence innovations, which are of immense importance to Australia’s Cyber Engagement Strategy.”
This research will occur over a period of one year and is expected to be completed by June 2022.
