New Zealand has signed up to an alliance against hackers-for-hire. Photo: 123RF
New Zealand has signed up to an alliance against hackers-for-hire, though all it requires is the country take part in talks.
Another 34 countries joined the signing of the so-called Pall Mall process at an inaugural conference in the UK on cyber warfare.
They want to cut down on the commercial market for malicious spyware which has grown rapidly.
The National Security Group said the signing up did not impose any obligations on New Zealand other than to keep up with multilateral talks.
The process was also "to better understand the threat posed by commercially available cyber intrusion capabilities, and to develop guiding principles and highlight potential policy options", it said in a statement.
"As a multistakeholder initiative, the Pall Mall process acknowledges the importance of public-private partnership and collaboration with civil society and academia, for protecting our collective interests in a free, open, and secure cyberspace."
The agency said this country had its own broad range of measures to tackle threats from malicious cyber activity.