Innovation and trade secrets are apparently being stolen from Western companies at an alarming rate by covert Chinese spies using online platforms, experts have warned.
At the recent Five Eyes summit in California, which brought together the heads of security services from the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum warned of the unprecedented risk posed by Chinese espionage .
Speaking to the BBC, McCallum stated: “We have seen a sustained campaign on a quite epic scale.” According to MI5, more than 20,000 people have been contacted via networking sites such as LinkedIn.
Espionage on ‘epic scale’
“These technologies are at a historical moment where they are starting to change our world in some pretty fundamental ways, and we know that authoritarian states are very focused on the opportunities that these technologies can bring to them.”
Chinese companies have also tried to get their hands on innovations and technologies developed by British organizations through investment channels hidden behind complex corporate structures, meaning it is not immediately clear where the money is originally coming from.
Areas of increasing growth and rapid development, such as artificial intelligence, are of particular interest to China, which could use this potential to create its own AI or intervene in Western politics.
The FBI also raised concerns, stating that the agency previously opened a new investigation into China every 12 hours and that there were currently more than 2,000 active cases.
Speaking to reporters at the event, FBI Director Chris Way said: “China has made economic espionage and stealing the work and ideas of others a central part of its national strategy, and that espionage comes at the expense of innovators in all five of our countries. The threat has only become more dangerous and insidious in recent years.”
This is the first meeting of the Five Eyes alliance to take place publicly, highlighting the severity of the threat.
Through BBC.