UN SECURITY COUNCIL ARRIA-FORMULA MEETING ON COMMERCIAL SPYWARE AND THE MAINTENANCE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
STATEMENT BY H.E AMBASSADOR REBECCA BRYANT, AMBASSADOR AND DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF AUSTRALIA
14 January 2025
We thank the United States for bringing us together to discuss the growing threat of commercial spyware and its impacts for international peace and security.
Cyberspace and critical technologies underpin national security, the realisation of human rights, economic prosperity, sustainable development, and international stability.
However – technologies are not neutral – values shape cyberspace and its many applications.
The growing commercial market for cyber intrusion capabilities enables the development, facilitation, and purchase of cyber capabilities by state and non-state actors in a way that vastly expands the risk of malicious and irresponsible use, creating an environment that is ripe for exploitation and destabilisation – particularly to human rights, democratic institutions, and national security.
We continue to see States seeking to use commercial spyware to monitor dissenting political views, limit freedoms of expression and association, undermine trust and confidence in political and electoral processes, and unlawfully collect private information – and often it is the most vulnerable in our communities who are at higher risk.
We know that women and girls, people of diverse genders and sexualities, and people with disabilities, face disproportionate levels of cyber facilitated harm, amplified by the use of commercial spyware.
Australia seeks a more transparent conversation about the development and use of cyber intrusion capabilities.
The Security Council has a crucial role to play in preventing the illegitimate use of commercial spyware, through practical measures and international cooperation, setting clear limitations on such capabilities.
Many of these tools also have legitimate uses and can provide benefits and security under the right circumstances.
The recognition that states have legitimate rights to develop and use certain cyber capabilities must go hand in hand with recognition that states are obliged to ensure that these capabilities are used in accordance with international law and the agreed norms of responsible behaviour.
Australia supports proposals to establish guiding principles and highlight policy options for the development, facilitation, purchase and use of commercially available cyber intrusion capabilities.
We call for a constructive approach to mitigating the threat, that constrains the irresponsible use of these tools whilst acknowledging their use for legitimate activities when used consistently with international law and norms.
Australia is strengthening collective cyber resilience in partnership with our neighbours in the Pacific under our Cyber and Critical Tech Cooperation Program and regional cyber crisis response teams.
We reaffirm our commitment to taking joint action to address this shared threat through the 2023 Joint Statement on Efforts to Counter Proliferation and Misuse of Commercial Spyware.
Australia is also active in the 2024 Pall Mall Process on tackling the proliferation and irresponsible use of commercial cyber intrusion capabilities. We thank the United Kingdom and France for their extensive work and look forward to taking these efforts forward into 2025 and beyond.
We invite all countries to support these important initiatives.