On Tuesday, the United States and three allies announced a partnership to strengthen software, supply chains and customer data as part of a series of cybersecurity initiatives.

During his first trip to Asia, US President Joe Biden met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.

Following the meeting, the leaders pledged to improve the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure by sharing threat information and identifying potential risks in supply chains for digitally enabled products and services.

As part of the partnership, the countries will work together on adopting software security standards for government acquisition and leveraging collective purchasing power to improve the broader software development ecosystem for all its users.

Under the Quad Cybersecurity Partnership, the Quad partners will develop capacity-building programs in the Indo-Pacific region, allowing internet users in various parts of the world to protect themselves from online threats.

Separately, each of these countries has made efforts to strengthen cybersecurity protections in recent years, and the joint initiative has been harshly criticized by Chinese officials, who told CNN that the U.S. was trying to spark a “geopolitical rivalry” with an “Indoco-Pacific NATO.”

Hackers linked to China have severely affected each of these countries. Earlier this month, Indian officials accused China of trying to hack seven electrical facilities in northern India. Whereas Last year, Australia, Japan, and the U.S. accused China’s ministry of state security of exploiting vulnerable Microsoft Exchange software to hack into hundreds of computers and devices.

The White House confirmed that leaders from all four countries would meet again next year in Australia.

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                                                                                                                                    Written by: Sahid K P

Edited by: Adv. Sabrina Bath