‘Almost certain’: Call to ban DeepSeek on government devices over China fears

Katherine Mansted, CyberCX’s executive director, said she now expects Australian governments, government departments and agencies to ban DeepSeek, as TikTok and equipment from Chinese firm Huawei have been previously.

The Australian government banned TikTok from government devices in 2023.

Mansted said it was unusual for her firm to recommend its clients restrict access to a particular app or piece of software.

“We don’t do it lightly,” she told this masthead. “But this is an app that is really explicit about its links back to China and the Chinese government.”

Five Eyes governments, including Australia, are yet to issue formal guidance about DeepSeek.

Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers this week urged Australians to “be cautious” about the app, while Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic suggested Australians “have to be careful”, noting questions about its approach to privacy and data management.

Husic was the first member of a Western government to raise privacy concerns about DeepSeek.

While noting that the British government hasn’t “had time to fully understand” the app, the UK’s technology secretary said, “This is a Chinese model that … has censorship built into it.”

In the US, the White House press secretary said that the National Security Council will assess the security implications of DeepSeek, and the US Navy has directed personnel not to use the app on security grounds.

Mansted said Australia needed a high-risk foreign vendor framework for critical infrastructure, democratic institutions and government.

“It’s just a shame that these decisions and frameworks aren’t baked in so that we don’t need to be playing catch-up every time there is a new breakthrough,” she said.

“The government should be leading on this, and what we have said consistently is government needs a holistic framework for high-risk foreign vendor technology, and that needs to be public. It just can’t be playing ‘Whack-a-Mole’ based on every new service or every new product.”

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