The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) protects Australia from threats posed by foreign intelligence services seeking to undermine Australia’s democratic systems and institutions through foreign interference and espionage.
In early 2020, the ASIO-led, multi-agency Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce was established to disrupt and deter hostile actors posing threats to Australia’s national security.
In its 2021-22 Annual Report, the ASIO reports on the impact of its counter-espionage and foreign interference operational activities.
How does ASIO counter espionage and foreign interference?
The ASIO collects intelligence on, and investigates, threats targeting Australian interests. It provides advice to government and industry on operational activities, as well as providing policy development advice. The report outlines the impact of these two key types of advice.
Impact of ASIO’s operational activities advice
In 2022, 80 percent of stakeholders rated ASIO’s impact on counter-espionage and foreign interference operational activity as HIGH. A further 12 per cent rated ASIO’s impact as MEDIUM. These results demonstrate a significant improvement on the ASIO’s 2020–21 results, when 89 per cent of stakeholders rated its support as MEDIUM or higher.
The work of ASIO’s outreach and engagement across government, industry and other sectors was highlighted. Feedback demonstrated ASIO’s impact on partners’ understanding of the threat environment, enabling those partners to more proactively harden their organisations against threats. Greater information sharing, particularly in relation to the ASIO-led Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce (CFITF) was also highlighted.
Further examples demonstrating the impact of ASIO’s counter-espionage and foreign interference operational activities advice during the reporting period include:
- ASIO investigations identified multiple compromises of Australian victims by state-sponsored cyber groups and worked with victims and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) to protect the sensitive information contained in these systems.
- OFFICIAL level ASIO assessments were published on espionage and foreign interference threats to the mining and resources, data storage and processing, banking and finance, and healthcare and medical sectors. Further, ASIO provided briefings to or engaged with partners in the aviation, financial, mining, quantum research, energy and maritime sectors.
- ASIO protected government information from compromise by assisting with the identification of potential malicious insiders.
- ASIO hosted the inaugural annual CFITF conference with State and Federal police counterparts. ASIO shared advice on the integration of State police into CFITF activities and community interference responses which will help in hardening the environment at a local level.
- ASIO continued a focus on education campaigns for clearance holders and engagement with government agencies to harden against foreign intelligence service access to government information through the insider threat.
Impact of ASIO’s policy development advice
In 2022, 73 percent of stakeholders reported that ASIO had a HIGH impact on their decision-making. A further 24 per cent rated ASIO’s impact as MEDIUM. These results were an improvement on ASIO’s 2020–21 results, demonstrating the increasing prominence of espionage and foreign interference threats and demand for ASIO reporting, assessments and advice.
Further examples demonstrating the impact of ASIO’s counter-espionage and foreign interference policy development advice during the reporting period include:
- ASIO contributed advice to support whole-of-government responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- ASIO produced an increased number of assessments at the OFFICIAL classification level to provide context and reach a broader cross-section of stakeholders.
- ASIO provided defensive briefings to reduce political interference vulnerabilities in electoral systems and candidates.
