Inside China's latest incredible plot to steal British secrets

MI5 has issued an unprecedented warning China is trying to steal military secrets by using job recruitment websites.

Beijing’s spooks are using an “aggressive online recruitment strategy” to hoodwink military and security personnel, academics, journalists, freelance writers, think tank employees, “or anyone with links to defence, security, policy and economic sectors”.

They are posing as employees of private consultancies, think tanks or human resources (HR) firms, and place online job advertisements for foreign policy and defence analysts, MI5 warned, alongside its Five Eyes partners.

Lifting the veil of secrecy on the Chinese military intelligence operations, MI5 warned spies will post fake roles on job sites such as LinkedIn, Indeed and Upwork.

Applicants will then be ranked on how likely they are to be able to obtain “sensitive” information.

During “interviews”, the intelligence officers will then ask about access to Government contracts.

Members of the military could also be asked about their roles, what their units do, their capabilities and where they are based.

Candidates will then be told to write a “trial” report on geo-political topics, such as “as China’s bilateral relations, the Indo-Pacific region and related defence issues, or international trade.”

Beijing will then begin to turn the screw by demanding “more privileged information”.

Recruits will be paid “anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per report, and may be offered more money in return for increasingly sensitive information.”

MI5, the FBI, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, warn: “While applicants often have no direct access to classified information, even unclassified information on government policy, or on military strategy, capabilities and installations, can be collected and combined with more sensitive reporting to form a comprehensive operational picture.

“Certain types of data can place the lives of frontline military or other personnel at risk, can weaken our economic prosperity, and enable interference in our democratic processes.”

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “This alert demonstrates the strength of our Five Eyes partnership and the work of our security services to keep our people safe.

“I urge all government and military personnel to follow the National Protective Security Authority’s advice to spot signs of online targeting and avoid inadvertently compromising our security.

“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.

“We’ve been clear that it is in the national interest to engage with China - not least because it enables us to directly challenge behaviour which we will not tolerate, such as this activity exposed by MI5 and our partners, while engaging on areas with clear benefits for the UK.”