Ministers from the ‘Five Eyes’ partnership all agreed to
work together to tackle the increasing global threats
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in a virtual meeting
co-chaired by Home Secretary today (Wednesday 17
June).
At the meeting of Home Affairs, Interior and Security
Ministers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and
the US, they discussed a range of threats including the
increased risk of online child sexual abuse, disinformation
and hostile state activity.
Home Secretary said:
These are unprecedented times and now more than ever it
is important we continue to work with our closest allies
to protect our citizens.
I was pleased to speak with my ‘Five Eyes’ colleagues
yesterday to discuss the shared threats we are facing and
how we will work together to tackle them.
Ministers raised the persistent threat of hostile state
activity as well as the spread of disinformation during the
pandemic which is putting lives at risk. The nations agreed
to share best practice and work together to counter these
threats and ensure that the public can access reliable
information to protect themselves.
The Home Secretary raised concerns about the increased risk
to children online during the pandemic and welcomed the
recent announcement by the Tech Coalition on tackling
online child abuse. This builds on the Voluntary Principles
to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, the
landmark blueprint to keeping children safe online.
But the Five Country partners were clear that technology
companies need to work quickly and go further to address
the issues that continue to leave children vulnerable to
predators online.
The Home Secretary said the threat of online child abuse
and terrorism would increase if companies like Facebook
continued with plans for end-to-end encryption across their
platforms. Ministers agreed that tech companies should work
closely with governments to ensure their plans do not
damage efforts to keep the public safe.
Ministers also raised the issue of cyber criminals
exploiting the pandemic through ransomware, malware and
phishing attacks. Ministers agreed on the need to share
intelligence around these kinds of scams and work closely
to stop them.
Ministers of the ‘Five Eyes’ nations agreed to continue to
keep in regular contact during the pandemic and to meet in
person for the next Five Country Ministerial event in New
Zealand when possible.
Ministers in attendance were:
- Home Secretary (co-chair)
- New Zealand’s Minister for Justice Andrew Little
(co-chair)
- Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton
- Canadian Minister for Public Safety Bill Blair
- US Attorney General William Barr
- US Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken
Cuccinelli
