QUAD Senior Cyber Group meets in Sydney to strengthen cybersecurity cooperation, says WH

In Australia's Sydney, the QUAD Senior Cyber Group met this week to discuss cybersecurity cooperation and to boost the resilience of the group's key infrastructure. The QUAD group includes India, Australia, the United States and Japan. On Friday, the White House issued a statement which said that to carry out the vision of the Prime Ministers of Australia, India, and Japan, as well as the President of the United States, for a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific, the QUAD Senior Cyber Group met in Sydney this week for two days to hold productive discussions on ways to expand the cybersecurity cooperation and strengthen cyber resilience and critical infrastructure protection in the region.

The United States' National Security Council shared a Tweet on Friday with an image of the Group stating, the QUAD Senior Cyber Group (the United States, Australia, India, and Japan) met in Sydney this week to improve the cybersecurity collaboration and boost the resilience of the critical infrastructure.

The meeting resulted in a work plan to increase collaboration amongst members

The meeting resulted in a work plan to increase collaboration amongst members, as well as with regional partners and industry, to address the common concerns, according to the statement. It was also stated that in an increasingly digital world with sophisticated cyber threats, Australia, India, Japan, and the United States realise the need to improve cybersecurity and the improvements are particularly vital in supplying critical infrastructure's core functions of life, health, and livelihood. The statement further said that the group will report back to their leaders about the meeting through the established QUAD processes.

QUAD leaders voiced a united position during a virtual summit earlier in March

Earlier in March, the QUAD leaders voiced a united position during a virtual summit, criticising unilateral moves to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific area. In 2007, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe initiated the idea of QUAD as an informal consultation mechanism among four countries that share the values of "a free and open Indo-Pacific area." The next QUAD leaders' in-person summit conference will take place in Japan. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has proposed US President Joe Biden to visit Japan in late April for a QUAD meet, according to Nikkei Asia.

Image: @WHNSC/Twitter