According to new information shared by the Five Eyes alliance - an intelligence body that combines the resources of the UK, US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand's intelligence agencies - Chinese spies are using job websites to target government staff to learn vital information.
As per BBC News, it's claimed that sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, Upwork, and more, offer fake analyst jobs that are hosted by undercover operatives from China who conduct interviews and hold conversations where they pressure applicants for "non-public" information that can be utilised by the Chinese military intelligence service.
Five Eyes state in a bulletin warning that Chinese spies "seek to acquire privileged military, political and economic intelligence that can provide China with a strategic and tactical advantage".
Naturally, the Chinese government denies these claims outright and regards them as "malicious slander", even going as far as to identify Five Eyes as a "real threat to peace-loving countries" due to the fact its members "brazenly conduct espionage activities around the world."
This hasn't stopped Five Eyes and the intelligence agencies from the included regions (such as the UK's MI5) from taking action, with the UK's Security Minister Dan Jarvis explaining: "We have taken robust action to defend our country and will continue to tackle hostile actions from a range of states including China. A number of recent cases show the strength of the powers we have to bring to justice those that undertake acts on behalf of a foreign state."
Jarvis even notes two LinkedIn profiles that were spotted in November and which were being operated on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, with these contacting government officials, offering false jobs, communicating in poorly written English, and otherwise attempting to gather sensitive information.