Sydney (AFP)

Australia on Tuesday unveiled a vast plan to fight cyber attacks a few days after the government announced a large-scale attack on the country's computer systems by "a state actor" believed to be China.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his government have announced that the country will spend an additional 1.35 billion Australian dollars (825 million euros) on cybersecurity over the next ten years, an increase of about 10% in the budget for this purpose. period thus increased to 15 billion Australian dollars (9.16 billion euros) in total.

Most of these new funds will create 500 additional jobs in the specialized intelligence service Australian Signals Directorate.

On June 19, the Prime Minister said that the country had been the target of a vast cyber attack by a "state actor" who targeted the computer systems of government, administrations and companies.

State-backed cyber attacks had targeted the Australian Parliament, political parties and universities last year, and all eyes had already turned to China.

Morrison said on Tuesday that these types of malicious attacks are becoming more frequent, sophisticated and on an ever-increasing scale.

Australia is part of the powerful intelligence alliance known as the "Five Eyes" with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, but its budget for cybersecurity is very small by compared to that of the United States, China or Russia.

Morrison's government had angered Beijing by calling for an independent international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, and by denouncing aggressive and dishonest Chinese diplomacy.

China responded by discouraging its nationals from Australia as a destination for tourism and study, threatening further reprisals and sentencing an Australian to death for drug trafficking.

Parliament and Australian political parties were concerned last year about an attempt to interfere with a foreign power in the political arena.

© 2020 AFP