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The Advertiser
31-07-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Top spy reveals what espionage is costing the Australian economy
Australia's spy boss says espionage cost the Australian economy $12.5 billion in just a single year as he calls on the country's leaders and public servants to shrug off a sense of complacency about the serious threat to domestic security. Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General Mike Burgess revealed the figure when he delivered the Annual Hawke Lecture to the Adelaide Convention Centre on Thursday evening. It is the first time the agency has been able to put a figure on the economic cost of espionage, after it partnered with the Australian Institute of Criminology to analyse the 2023-24 financial year. The figure includes the direct costs of known espionage events, as well as the indirect costs of countering and responding. But Mr Burgess said it was still a conservative number. "The Institute deliberately chose to be conservative, only modelling costs it could confirm and calculate," he said, according to a copy of the speech seen by The Canberra Times. "That means many of the most serious, significant and cascading costs of espionage are not included in the $12.5 billion figure. "The potential loss of strategic advantage, sovereign decision-making and warfighting capacity hold immense value, but not a quantifiable dollar value. "The Institute's report contains more than 12.5 billion reasons why we need to take security more seriously." Mr Burgess used his annual threat assessment in February to warn that espionage and foreign interference had reached "extreme levels" over the past five years, and on Thursday said Australia was still failing to take its security as seriously as it needed to. "I'm not simply talking about financial investments - I'm referring to a broader prioritisation of time, focus and effort," the Director-General said. "I've lost count of the number of times senior officials and executives have privately downplayed the impacts of espionage. "I've watched corporate leaders literally shrug their shoulders when told their networks are compromised. "I've heard sensible security measures such as taking burner phones to high-risk countries described as unreasonable inconveniences." The Director-General's rare public appearances have often included the declassification of alarming details about foiled plots to interfere with Australia and steal its valuable secrets. On Thursday, he said the spy agency removed "a number of undeclared Russian intelligence officers" from Australia in 2022, after an investigation found "the Russians recruiting proxies and agents to obtain sensitive information, and employing sophisticated tradecraft to disguise their activities". READ MORE: Mr Burgess highlighted the ways in which foreign actors have sought to steal Australia's science and technology advantages, information about public and private sector projects and Antarctic research. "ASIO has detected and disrupted countless examples of all these things: 24 major espionage and foreign interference disruptions in the last three years alone - more than the previous eight years combined," he said. "And they are just the major disruptions; there have been many other cases." He listed examples of spies recruiting a security clearance holder to hand over official documents on free trade negotiations, foreign actors seeking to buy access to sensitive personal data sets and land near sensitive military sites, and foreign spies attempting to infiltrate Australian government jobs, including some within the national security community. "The espionage threat is serious, but not insurmountable," Mr Burgess concluded. "The people conducting espionage are sophisticated, but not unstoppable. "We cannot be defeatist or insecure about our security. We can and should have confidence in our ability to respond." Australia's spy boss says espionage cost the Australian economy $12.5 billion in just a single year as he calls on the country's leaders and public servants to shrug off a sense of complacency about the serious threat to domestic security. Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General Mike Burgess revealed the figure when he delivered the Annual Hawke Lecture to the Adelaide Convention Centre on Thursday evening. It is the first time the agency has been able to put a figure on the economic cost of espionage, after it partnered with the Australian Institute of Criminology to analyse the 2023-24 financial year. The figure includes the direct costs of known espionage events, as well as the indirect costs of countering and responding. But Mr Burgess said it was still a conservative number. "The Institute deliberately chose to be conservative, only modelling costs it could confirm and calculate," he said, according to a copy of the speech seen by The Canberra Times. "That means many of the most serious, significant and cascading costs of espionage are not included in the $12.5 billion figure. "The potential loss of strategic advantage, sovereign decision-making and warfighting capacity hold immense value, but not a quantifiable dollar value. "The Institute's report contains more than 12.5 billion reasons why we need to take security more seriously." Mr Burgess used his annual threat assessment in February to warn that espionage and foreign interference had reached "extreme levels" over the past five years, and on Thursday said Australia was still failing to take its security as seriously as it needed to. "I'm not simply talking about financial investments - I'm referring to a broader prioritisation of time, focus and effort," the Director-General said. "I've lost count of the number of times senior officials and executives have privately downplayed the impacts of espionage. "I've watched corporate leaders literally shrug their shoulders when told their networks are compromised. "I've heard sensible security measures such as taking burner phones to high-risk countries described as unreasonable inconveniences." The Director-General's rare public appearances have often included the declassification of alarming details about foiled plots to interfere with Australia and steal its valuable secrets. On Thursday, he said the spy agency removed "a number of undeclared Russian intelligence officers" from Australia in 2022, after an investigation found "the Russians recruiting proxies and agents to obtain sensitive information, and employing sophisticated tradecraft to disguise their activities". READ MORE: Mr Burgess highlighted the ways in which foreign actors have sought to steal Australia's science and technology advantages, information about public and private sector projects and Antarctic research. "ASIO has detected and disrupted countless examples of all these things: 24 major espionage and foreign interference disruptions in the last three years alone - more than the previous eight years combined," he said. "And they are just the major disruptions; there have been many other cases." He listed examples of spies recruiting a security clearance holder to hand over official documents on free trade negotiations, foreign actors seeking to buy access to sensitive personal data sets and land near sensitive military sites, and foreign spies attempting to infiltrate Australian government jobs, including some within the national security community. "The espionage threat is serious, but not insurmountable," Mr Burgess concluded. "The people conducting espionage are sophisticated, but not unstoppable. "We cannot be defeatist or insecure about our security. We can and should have confidence in our ability to respond." Australia's spy boss says espionage cost the Australian economy $12.5 billion in just a single year as he calls on the country's leaders and public servants to shrug off a sense of complacency about the serious threat to domestic security. Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General Mike Burgess revealed the figure when he delivered the Annual Hawke Lecture to the Adelaide Convention Centre on Thursday evening. It is the first time the agency has been able to put a figure on the economic cost of espionage, after it partnered with the Australian Institute of Criminology to analyse the 2023-24 financial year. The figure includes the direct costs of known espionage events, as well as the indirect costs of countering and responding. But Mr Burgess said it was still a conservative number. "The Institute deliberately chose to be conservative, only modelling costs it could confirm and calculate," he said, according to a copy of the speech seen by The Canberra Times. "That means many of the most serious, significant and cascading costs of espionage are not included in the $12.5 billion figure. "The potential loss of strategic advantage, sovereign decision-making and warfighting capacity hold immense value, but not a quantifiable dollar value. "The Institute's report contains more than 12.5 billion reasons why we need to take security more seriously." Mr Burgess used his annual threat assessment in February to warn that espionage and foreign interference had reached "extreme levels" over the past five years, and on Thursday said Australia was still failing to take its security as seriously as it needed to. "I'm not simply talking about financial investments - I'm referring to a broader prioritisation of time, focus and effort," the Director-General said. "I've lost count of the number of times senior officials and executives have privately downplayed the impacts of espionage. "I've watched corporate leaders literally shrug their shoulders when told their networks are compromised. "I've heard sensible security measures such as taking burner phones to high-risk countries described as unreasonable inconveniences." The Director-General's rare public appearances have often included the declassification of alarming details about foiled plots to interfere with Australia and steal its valuable secrets. On Thursday, he said the spy agency removed "a number of undeclared Russian intelligence officers" from Australia in 2022, after an investigation found "the Russians recruiting proxies and agents to obtain sensitive information, and employing sophisticated tradecraft to disguise their activities". READ MORE: Mr Burgess highlighted the ways in which foreign actors have sought to steal Australia's science and technology advantages, information about public and private sector projects and Antarctic research. "ASIO has detected and disrupted countless examples of all these things: 24 major espionage and foreign interference disruptions in the last three years alone - more than the previous eight years combined," he said. "And they are just the major disruptions; there have been many other cases." He listed examples of spies recruiting a security clearance holder to hand over official documents on free trade negotiations, foreign actors seeking to buy access to sensitive personal data sets and land near sensitive military sites, and foreign spies attempting to infiltrate Australian government jobs, including some within the national security community. "The espionage threat is serious, but not insurmountable," Mr Burgess concluded. "The people conducting espionage are sophisticated, but not unstoppable. "We cannot be defeatist or insecure about our security. We can and should have confidence in our ability to respond." Australia's spy boss says espionage cost the Australian economy $12.5 billion in just a single year as he calls on the country's leaders and public servants to shrug off a sense of complacency about the serious threat to domestic security. Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General Mike Burgess revealed the figure when he delivered the Annual Hawke Lecture to the Adelaide Convention Centre on Thursday evening. It is the first time the agency has been able to put a figure on the economic cost of espionage, after it partnered with the Australian Institute of Criminology to analyse the 2023-24 financial year. The figure includes the direct costs of known espionage events, as well as the indirect costs of countering and responding. But Mr Burgess said it was still a conservative number. "The Institute deliberately chose to be conservative, only modelling costs it could confirm and calculate," he said, according to a copy of the speech seen by The Canberra Times. "That means many of the most serious, significant and cascading costs of espionage are not included in the $12.5 billion figure. "The potential loss of strategic advantage, sovereign decision-making and warfighting capacity hold immense value, but not a quantifiable dollar value. "The Institute's report contains more than 12.5 billion reasons why we need to take security more seriously." Mr Burgess used his annual threat assessment in February to warn that espionage and foreign interference had reached "extreme levels" over the past five years, and on Thursday said Australia was still failing to take its security as seriously as it needed to. "I'm not simply talking about financial investments - I'm referring to a broader prioritisation of time, focus and effort," the Director-General said. "I've lost count of the number of times senior officials and executives have privately downplayed the impacts of espionage. "I've watched corporate leaders literally shrug their shoulders when told their networks are compromised. "I've heard sensible security measures such as taking burner phones to high-risk countries described as unreasonable inconveniences." The Director-General's rare public appearances have often included the declassification of alarming details about foiled plots to interfere with Australia and steal its valuable secrets. On Thursday, he said the spy agency removed "a number of undeclared Russian intelligence officers" from Australia in 2022, after an investigation found "the Russians recruiting proxies and agents to obtain sensitive information, and employing sophisticated tradecraft to disguise their activities". READ MORE: Mr Burgess highlighted the ways in which foreign actors have sought to steal Australia's science and technology advantages, information about public and private sector projects and Antarctic research. "ASIO has detected and disrupted countless examples of all these things: 24 major espionage and foreign interference disruptions in the last three years alone - more than the previous eight years combined," he said. "And they are just the major disruptions; there have been many other cases." He listed examples of spies recruiting a security clearance holder to hand over official documents on free trade negotiations, foreign actors seeking to buy access to sensitive personal data sets and land near sensitive military sites, and foreign spies attempting to infiltrate Australian government jobs, including some within the national security community. "The espionage threat is serious, but not insurmountable," Mr Burgess concluded. "The people conducting espionage are sophisticated, but not unstoppable. "We cannot be defeatist or insecure about our security. We can and should have confidence in our ability to respond."
West Australian
31-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
ASIO spy boss Mike Burgess warns espionage at ‘unprecedented levels' as Aussies targeted ‘more aggressively'
Australia's spy boss has warned espionage has shot to 'unprecedented levels and sophistication', as Australians are being targeted 'more aggressively than ever before'. Director-general of security Mike Burgess said espionage was costing Australia $12.5 Billion a year and warned against complacency in his Annual Hawke Lecture. 'ASIO estimates the threat from espionage will only intensify,' he said. 'Nation states are spying at unprecedented levels, with unprecedented sophistication. ASIO is seeing more Australians targeted – more aggressively – than ever before. 'ASIO has detected 24 major espionage and foreign interference disruptions in the last three years alone – more than the previous eight years combined. 'So our response must also be more serious and sophisticated than ever before.' Recent targets have included a law firm, horticultural laboratories, a peak industry body, and exporter in attacks he labelled the 'tip of an espionage iceberg'. Among key targets in the past couple years has been Australia's trilateral defence pact with the United States and United Kingdom – AUKUS – to deliver nuclear-powered submarines. Mr Burgess said reports had found 'a very unhealthy interest in AUKUS' from foreign intelligence agencies. 'With AUKUS, we are not just defending our sovereign capability. We are also defending critical capability shared by and with our partners,' he said. He said while the 'obvious candidates' of 'China, Russia and Iran' were in the mix of nations targeting Australia – the spying pool was larger and more unexpected than assumed. 'You would be genuinely shocked by the number and names of countries trying to steal our secrets,' he said. Other areas of interest include critical minerals, rare earths extraction and processing, green technology, Antarctic research and trying to map out Australia's critical infrastructure. He said spies can use coercing or seducing techniques to obtain this material in person or most commonly by hacking through technology. In other cases, people have been lured with overseas trips. Mr Burgess said ultimately, espionage damaged Australia's economy and prosperity. He reminded Aussies 'security is a shared responsibility' after taking aim at 'senior officials and executives' for 'shrugging their shoulders' to the issue. He criticised others for whining about the inconvenience of taking burner phones to high-risk countries. More recently ASIO has detected fake companies setting up job ads on popular sites to try to glean information from people. While trying to recruit officials, public servants and military personnel, spies also try to apply for government, media or defence gigs. 'A foreign intelligence service tried to get an asset employed as a researcher at a media outlet, with the aim of shaping its reporting and receiving early warning of critical stories,' he said. Mr Burgess also warned universities around collaborating on joint-research projects, especially with foreign researchers. In one case a visiting academic with links to a foreign government broke into a restricted technology laboratory and filmed its contents. He also told the keynote address that in recent years more current and former defence employees were being targeted. Some have been subjected to covert room searches during overseas trips, approached at conferences or given gifts containing surveillance devices. He also warned people against promoting their access to sensitive information on social media — especially LinkedIn — and made a pointed spray at those boasting their work on AUKUS. 'Close to 400 explicitly say they work on AUKUS, and the figure rises above 2,000 if you include broader references to 'submarines' and 'nuclear',' he said. 'Nearly two and a half thousand publicly boast about having a security clearance and thirteen hundred claim to work in the national security community. 'While these numbers have fallen since I first raised the alarm two years ago, this still makes my head spin.' 'I get that people need to market themselves, but telling social media you hold a security clearance or work on a highly classified project is more than naïve; it's recklessly inviting the attention of a foreign intelligence service.'
