Five Eyes intelligence alliance warns of Chinese espionage on job platforms

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance has issued a joint notice warning that Chinese intelligence agencies are using job platforms such as LinkedIn to “lure” recruits with access to sensitive information.

“China’s military intelligence services are using an increasingly wide array of professional networking sites and online job platforms to target Five Eyes government and military personnel — and anyone with access to classified or privileged information,” the domestic security agencies of the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand said in a bulletin titled “Safeguarding Our Secrets” on Wednesday.

Targets include security clearance holders, particularly in defense, foreign affairs, security and intelligence; military personnel with knowledge of regional capabilities and activities; and individuals with direct or indirect access to government information, the agencies said.

The bulletin said intelligence operatives or their affiliates pose as consultants, think tank staff or recruiters, posting jobs for foreign policy and defense analysts before “pressuring” successful applicants to provide “non-public” information for “unspecified clients who are associated with the Chinese government.”

Beijing’s military intelligence services “ultimately seek to acquire privileged military, political and economic intelligence that can provide China with a strategic and tactical advantage over the Five Eyes,” the agencies said.

The recruits receive from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per report, and “may be offered more money in return for increasingly sensitive information,” the bulletin said.

There was no immediate response from China to the bulletin.