- Posted October 18, 2023
- Media Releases
(From left to right), Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General Mike Burgess; Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director David Vigneault; FBI Director Christopher Wray; New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Director-General of Security and Chief Executive Andrew Hampton; and MI5 Director General Ken McCallum pose for a group photo during the Emerging Technology and Securing Innovation Summit in Palo Alto, California, on October 16, 2023.
The heads of the Five Eyes security intelligence agencies have appeared together in public for the first time to encourage businesses to protect their innovation.
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) Director-General of Security Andrew Hampton attended the Emerging Threats, Innovation and Security summit in Silicon Valley today at the invitation of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray.
The purpose of the event was to update private-sector executives on the latest global threats from state actors looking to steal their ideas and intellectual property.
“Industrial espionage is a serious threat that requires a serious response,” says Andrew Hampton. “It’s also a threat from which New Zealand is not immune.”
NZSIS’s New Zealand Security Threat Environment 2023 report, published earlier this year, points out that there are a number of foreign intelligence services that persistently and opportunistically undertake espionage against New Zealand and New Zealanders both domestically and abroad.
The report identifies espionage, including cyber-enabled espionage, as posing a significant threat to New Zealand’s national security and economic prosperity. The NZSIS assesses that it is highly likely there are foreign states, which target individual New Zealanders, our corporate sector and government officials to gather information for their own economic, military or political advantage.
“New Zealand’s innovators are key to our economic advantage but also face particular risks and vulnerability,” says Andrew Hampton. “There are bad actors who will try to exploit New Zealand’s openness, along with our willingness to share and our need for investment.”
The Five Eyes security intelligence heads have released a set of principles [PDF, 566 KB] at the Summit that businesses can use as a guide for best practice.
Andrew Hampton says adopting these five principles is a valuable first step for any innovator looking to protect their hard work from those that wish to steal it.
“The principles broadly align with existing products and advice New Zealand security agencies frequently share on cyber security, information security and physical security.
“It also demonstrates how security intelligence agencies like ours have similar values and a shared purpose with innovators. Stronger partnerships on these matters will see us improve national security outcomes together.”