Yesterday Australia’s only national newswire, Australian Associated Press, was brought almost to a standstill by a cyber attack stemming from China. The attack targeted the news service’s ISP, which handles news between the wire and its clients. AAP was forced onto a secondary ISP, slowing service.

In emails sent to staff and seen by Business Spectator, AAP’s management said the ISP was brought down “due to distributed denial of service attack originating from China”. The first message to staff was sent at about 1pm on Wednesday asking staff to minimise internet use, before another email went out just after 4pm confirming an attack emanating from China.

The Chinese government has repeatedly drawn the ire of freedom-of-information proponents, by limiting access to information online — a major cause of Google’s withdrawal from the country. It has also repeatedly hacked the email accounts of human rights dissidents and others who criticise the Chinese government. But even beyond the important principles underpinning the right to access to information and freedom of speech, these attacks impede the ability of the targets, often Australian companies and government departments, to be able to do their jobs.

It is, as yet, unclear why AAP was targeted or whether it was an attack against the ISP itself, but either way, these are both Australian businesses that should be protected from this kind of direct, targeted attack. Business Spectator has previously warned about Chinese practices of espionage and corporate sabotage and while attacks on Australian websites are not unknown — such as a co-ordinated attack on the Melbourne International Film Festival website — these attacks must be brought into the political sphere.

The Australian government itself is thought to have been targeted on several occasions by hackers in China. In 2007, China was accused of attempting to hack into Australian and New Zealand computer systems. The Australian quoted a senior government source as saying, “It’s a serious problem, it’s ongoing and it’s real”. The threat hasn’t dissipated — if anything, it’s crystallised.

The Australian government, especially heading into an election, must be willing to raise these issues with the Chinese government. The Chinese government has said it wants to rid Chinese cyberspace of p-rn, a seemingly impossible task, but it has not made similar overtures to clean up targeted attacks on overseas websites or internet capabilities of companies or organisations. Not only does this have an impact on the freedom of speech of businesses that are not subject to restrictive Chinese regulations, it also affects the ability of these companies to work and to make money.

The internet is essential Australian infrastructure, as we have seen from the amount of money and resources the Australian government is willing to put into a national broadband network. But rather than focus his attention on limited his citizens’ access to information through a censorship program, Senator Stephen Conroy would be better off securing this essential infrastructure from attack. Even if that attack is coming from one of its biggest trading partners.

Later this morning AAP Chief Executive Bruce Davidson told Business Spectator:

“While AAP confirms we had some problems with our internet provider yesterday (Wednesday), investigations into the incident have satisfied us that this was not a direct attack on the agency itself. AAP’s back-up and security procedures were immediately implemented and there was no interruptions to our news agency services.”