Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Officials say the activity is intensifying, but the full consequences of a coordinated strike remain poorly understood.
The head of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency says the country is entering a period where cyber intrusions could move far beyond theft and into deliberate disruption.
Addressing business leaders in Melbourne, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general Mike Burgess said the nation is facing “unprecedented levels of espionage,” with a mounting likelihood of “cyber-enabled sabotage” emerging within the next five years, BBC reports.
According to Burgess, foreign operatives are repeatedly testing the defences of utilities and infrastructure partners across Australia and among its international allies.
He referred to “one nation state – no prizes for guessing which one” that has attempted to infiltrate water, energy, transport and telecommunications systems.
The Chinese embassy has not yet responded to the accusations.
State-backed hackers
BBC cites Burgess as saying that authoritarian governments are now more inclined to “disrupt and destroy,” referencing reporting from Australian and US authorities about two Chinese-linked hacking groups known as Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon.
“These groups are hackers working for Chinese government intelligence and their military,” he told the audience, noting that both operations had targeted telecom providers in the US and Australia.
He explained that Salt Typhoon is principally focused on intelligence collection, entering American telecommunications networks and “probing” Australian systems as well.
Volt Typhoon, he said, has been caught inside US critical infrastructure and appears to be positioning itself to carry out future disruption. “And yes, we have seen Chinese hackers probing our critical infrastructure as well,” Burgess added.
Sabotage scenarios
Burgess warned that foreign regimes may increasingly turn to infrastructure sabotage to “impede decision-making, damage the economy, undermine war-fighting capability and sow social discord”.
He stressed that even minor outages can quickly ripple across society, pointing to short-lived telecom failures in Australia that were not connected to foreign interference.
“That’s one phone network not working for less than one day,” he said, before urging Australians to imagine the consequences of a coordinated strike on multiple systems.
He listed possible scenarios: power cuts during extreme heat, contamination of water supplies and a collapse of financial networks.
Economic toll
The ASIO chief said spies are broadening their interests to include commercial negotiations, private-sector investments and large datasets that could give foreign firms an upper hand.
He likened the activity to criminal behaviour, with intruders harvesting customer information at scale.
Conservative estimates, he said, suggest espionage cost Australia A$12.5bn in 2023–24, including around A$2bn in stolen trade secrets and intellectual property.
Hidden access
Burgess described the attackers’ approach as highly advanced, using “top-notch tradecraft” to locate networks, run vulnerability tests and quietly explore digital entry points.
Once inside, he said, they conduct mapping operations and work to maintain long-term access that could be used for sabotage whenever it suits their strategic aims.
Sources: BBC, Reuters, AP
This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation
