The International Cyber Policy Centre is proud to announce a partnership with Microsoft.

"There’s a worrying tendency to talk about Cyberspace in the abstract. But it is not a nebulous space. Cyberspace consists of concrete elements in the real world, such as datacentres, undersea cables, laptops and mobile devices. These are designed and manufactured by private companies and that is why the private sector needs to be at the table in any debate on cyber policy.

If anyone had any doubts that Australia and its institutions were a target – the Prime Minister rising to inform the House of Representatives that a cyber attack targeting Parliament House was carried out by a sophisticated state actor and that same actor had targeted major political parties – should have put those doubts to rest.

We live in an interconnected world. Digital technologies have brought incredible benefits and opportunities. Australia’s great tyranny of distance is no longer an excuse nor an insurmountable challenge to economic and social integration with the rest of the world.

The February attack demonstrated graphically how this global interconnectedness has brought new challenges. The technologies that enable economic and social connections are the same platforms that malicious actors use to target Australian organisations and citizens.

To be effective, cyber policy engagement must be multilateral and multi-stakeholder. This is the reason Microsoft was such a strong supporter of last years’ Paris Call - the first of a new type of international cyber agreement involving governments, companies, researchers, think tanks and not-for-profits. Bodies who facilitate and create trusted environments for these often-difficult and nuanced, but critical conversations, are so important. Since its inception in 2011, ASPI’s ICPC has played a critical role in advancing debate and multilateral engagement on cyber issues not just in Australia, but across the Asia Pacific region and ultimately into international fora.

And that is why Microsoft has become a sponsor of the ICPC and why we look forward to working with the ICPC and its partners to further the debate on trust, ethics, privacy and security in our use of technology”.

- Tom Daemen, General Counsel, Head of Corporate External Legal Affairs, Microsoft Australia-New Zealand