BY ANTHONY CUTHBERTSON
Chinese spies nest.
China has denied using LinkedIn to infiltrate political and business circles in Germany, following claims from German intelligence services that 10,000 of its citizens were targeted by Chinese spies.
The German intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), made the allegations Sunday, suggesting that China was using fake profiles to connect with high-profile politicians and business leaders.
The claims follow similar allegations of cyber espionage being undertaken by Russian spy agencies.
“Chinese intelligence services are active on networks like LinkedIn and have been trying for a while to extract information and find intelligence sources in this way,” said a spokesperson for Germany’s BfV intelligence agency.
“The infections are difficult to detect, since network connections between service providers and their customers aren’t suspicious. This gives the attacker an even better disguise than before.”
The method of infiltration that Chinese operatives used, according to the BfV, was to pose as academics, business consultants and policy experts on the business networking site.
“Chinese intelligence services are active on networks like LinkedIn and have been trying for a while to extract information and find intelligence sources in this way,” said a spokesperson for Germany’s BfV intelligence agency.
“The infections are difficult to detect, since network connections between service providers and their customers aren’t suspicious. This gives the attacker an even better disguise than before.”
The method of infiltration that Chinese operatives used, according to the BfV, was to pose as academics, business consultants and policy experts on the business networking site.
The BfV published the names of eight of the profiles it claimed were set up for the purpose of surveillance and infiltration, adding that it suspected there were many more.
One example of a suspicious account was that of Laeticia Chen, whose profile stated she was a manager at the “China Center of International Politics and Economy.”
One example of a suspicious account was that of Laeticia Chen, whose profile stated she was a manager at the “China Center of International Politics and Economy.”
There was no evidence that Chen is a real person and her profile picture was borrowed from an online fashion catalogue, the intelligence agency said, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
The BfV feared that these accounts were used to contact relevant German nationals for the purpose of gathering information and to recruit informants.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to the allegations on Monday, December 11, saying that such claims were damaging to relations between the two countries.
Earlier this year, Russian intelligence services came under scrutiny for their manipulation of LinkedIn as a surveillance tool, as well as their widely reported use of bots across other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
The attraction of LinkedIn as a spying platform is that its users are predominantly white-collar workers in positions that could be exploited at high levels of business and government.
“The Russian special services are for sure exploiting LinkedIn to gather personal information on certain targets and possibly recruit and blackmail them,” a Kremlin expert told Newsweek in August. “They operate under fabricated identities and credentials, while Russian propaganda and trolling campaigns are widely applied on the platform.”
The BfV feared that these accounts were used to contact relevant German nationals for the purpose of gathering information and to recruit informants.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to the allegations on Monday, December 11, saying that such claims were damaging to relations between the two countries.
Earlier this year, Russian intelligence services came under scrutiny for their manipulation of LinkedIn as a surveillance tool, as well as their widely reported use of bots across other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
The attraction of LinkedIn as a spying platform is that its users are predominantly white-collar workers in positions that could be exploited at high levels of business and government.
“The Russian special services are for sure exploiting LinkedIn to gather personal information on certain targets and possibly recruit and blackmail them,” a Kremlin expert told Newsweek in August. “They operate under fabricated identities and credentials, while Russian propaganda and trolling campaigns are widely applied on the platform.”
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