Espionage now worse than Cold War: ASIO

Australia is facing an unprecedented level of foreign interference and espionage, worse than during the Cold War, ASIO is warning.

Appearing at a Senate committee examining proposed new laws to crack down on foreign interference and spying, officials said adversaries were generally known during the Cold War, whereas there is a raft of unknown players nowadays.

"Whilst (the Cold War) was obviously a very busy time in that particular period in history our assessment is it's not on the scale which we're experiencing today," deputy director general Peter Vickery told senators on Wednesday.