Image: Lowy Institute
“I had to remind myself the other day that when 9-11 took place, of course, there were no tweets, it’s interesting. It only seems like yesterday. There was no social media as we know it today,” Australia’s Director-General of Security Duncan Lewis said during an address to the Lowy Institute.
Since then, a lot has changed in the global threat landscape. This was the underlying message delivered by Lewis as he spoke on Wednesday night, one of the last times before he hands his Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) duties over to Mike Burgess on September 15.
Reflecting on his time as ASIO’s 13th Director-General of Security, Lewis pointed to the Latin phrase omne trium perfectum — the rule of three.
“It suggests that everything that comes in threes is perfect. This principle is echoed through art, literature, theology, and perhaps surprisingly to you, it’s echoed in some ways through security and intelligence,” he said.
“In addition, I’d offer another security triptych perhaps, that we have espionage, terrorism, and cyber as three matters to consider. These elements conflate to represent the very real and pressing national threat and they are the threats that ASIO is most focused on.”
See also: 3 ways state actors target businesses in cyber warfare, and how to protect yourself (TechRepublic)
While globalisation has delivered a number of benefits to mankind, Lewis highlighted that with the good comes the not so good, singling out cyber space.
“For example, while cyber is a highly effective vector which brings prosperity, learning, and awareness, it also serves to broadcast propaganda, to spread violent ideologies or false information, to interfere with political processes, gives us the opportunity to conduct cyber acts and attacks, as well as taking, withholding, and destroying information,” he explained.
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