SYDNEY, Australia — A memorandum of understanding on regional cooperation against violent extremism will be signed by 10 Association of Southeast Asian countries and Australia on Saturday.
The MOU reportedly contains a provision to pool cyber intelligence and police resources across the region to address these threats for the first time.
The Australian newspaper said it would include a regional digital forensics taskforce and uniform criminal legislative frameworks to secure prosecutions.
During the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, Australia had warned about the use of encrypted messaging apps to plan terrorist attacks.
“The use of encrypted messaging apps by terrorists and criminals is potentially the most significant degradation of intelligence capability in modern times,” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said.
Dutton added that the only way to deal with the threat, and the increasing use of the internet by groups like Islamic State to radicalize and recruit new members, was together.
“While our nations are focused on countering the ongoing threat of terrorism domestically, it would be a mistake to approach the problem from a purely national perspective,” he said.
“Terrorism and violent extremism transcend national borders,” he added.
He said that to address the issue of apps which allow extremists to operate clandestinely, Canberra planned to introduce legislation to strengthen agencies’ ability to adapt to encryption.
This will include making companies that provide communications services and devices obliged to assist when asked, while also making the use of surveillance devices and computer network exploitation by authorities easier.
Canberra is already helping Southeast Asian states choke terrorist financing and counter violent extremism.
The problem has been exacerbated by jihadists now being forced out of Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State caliphate mostly crushed.
The issue was driven home last year when pro-Islamic State militants seized the southern Philippine city of Marawi, with Australia aiding Manila to win it back.
Australia has suffered six terror attacks in recent years and disrupted 14 more, including a plot to bring down a plane departing Sydney.
In response, Canberra has consolidated key functions like national security, immigration, counter-terrorism, cyber-security, and border protection under a newly-created Home Affairs department, headed by Dutton.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia a dialogue partner since 1974. Agence France Presse