The first meeting of an international network to strengthen the fight against cybercrime around the Pacific has been held in Brisbane.
Hosted by Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs, Tobias Feakin the meeting included representatives from Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Dr Feakin said the Pacific Cyber Security Operational Network (PaCSON) had been established on 30 April as a group of Government-designated cybersecurity incident response officials from across the Pacific.
He said the initiative was timely, with the rapid increase of internet connectivity in the region.
“PaCSON is a vehicle we can use for closer sharing of cybersecurity threat information, tools, techniques and ideas between nations,” Dr Feakin said.
He said members took part in a cybersecurity information exchange, an advanced persistent threat incident response discussion exercise, a cybersecurity awareness-raising workshop and an in-depth session with the region’s newest computer emergency response teams from Papua New Guinea, Tonga and New Zealand.
Dr Feakin said the PaCSON initiative is funded through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Cyber Cooperation Program (CCP).
The CCP has been provided with $15 million to assist countries in the Indo-Pacific to develop their institutional capacity across a full breadth of cyber issues, including addressing cybersecurity threats and combatting cybercrime.
