China has capability and intent to weaponise database

The compiling of a giant global database by a Chinese military contractor should serve as a wake-up call for all Australians, according to a member of parliament's powerful intelligence committee, as Beijing has shown the "intent and capability" to weaponise the information.

As a member of the British parliament warned of China exporting its surveillance state to the world, Australian politicians reacted with a mix of concern and alarm after the database was revealed by The Australian Financial Review on Monday.

More than 35,000 Australians and around 2.4 million names globally are listed on the Overseas Key Individuals Database (OKIDB), which was compiled by military contractor China Zhenhua.

Liberal Senator Amanda Stoker, who sits on parliament's influential intelligence committee, said Australians must do more to protect their data and more cynically assess with whom it is shared.

"What we have seen from the Zhenhua OKIDB is proof of significant capability meeting demonstrated intent," she told the Financial Review.

"The children of our political and business leaders have been actively targeted. Cleaners, maintenance men, and students have been the subject of research and analysis of how easily they can be manipulated to facilitate the CCP [Chinese Communist Party's] access to information."

The children of political leaders named on the list include Sebastian Costello, son of former federal Treasurer Peter Costello, Ignatius Hockey, son of former treasurer Joe Hockey and Aaron Wyatt, son of Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt.

The Australian segment of the list is heavy with high profile figures from politics, law and the military, but also includes lesser-known technology entrepreneurs, academics, business people and religious leaders. Those with criminal records or sanctioned by the corporate regulator also appear.

Zhenhua, which claimed the database went live in December 2018, said along with targeting key people, the information could be used to manipulate social media, sow discord and spread disinformation.

"Anything can be turned into reality through social media," the company's website said.

Education Minister Dan Tehan, a former cyber security minister, agreed it was "sinister" that politicians' children had been included on the database.

He said intelligence agencies were assessing reports of the database.

"It just goes to show that if the reports are true and accurate then we have to do everything we can to counter foreign interference and that is what the government has been doing," he said.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor, another former cyber security minister, said reports on the database were "concerning".

"It is why we are ramping up our investment in this area, making sure we have the capability, the toolkit to keep Australians secure and safe at all times," he said. "Our cyber security is crucial."

Kimberley Kitching, chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade References Committee, who is named on the database, said its leaking showed a level of discontent with the Chinese system which would worry Beijing.

"If you were a senior Chinese official you’d be very worried that this database has been exposed," she said. "You’d be up at night wondering how many Chinese Snowden-type hackers are currently employed at the Ministry of State Security."

In Britain, Conservative Party politician Bob Seely said China was seeking to export its surveillance state to the world, but said the UK was years behind Australia, the US and Japan in understanding the threat posed by China.

"China does not build databases on us, legally or not, for benign reasons. It does this to find human vulnerabilities to exploit. If data and information are power, that is what China is building," he wrote in London's The Daily Telegraph, which published the UK list.