The intelligence chiefs of the Five Eyes nations came together on Tuesday to warn of the danger to businesses from Chinese espionage.
The heads of Australia’s Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Canada’s Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS), the U.S.’s Federal Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the UK’s MI5 said there was an unprecedented threat.
Companies around the world, they said, were facing what they described as the most sustained and sophisticated attempts ever to access intellectual property. The aim of these hostile states, they said, was to boost their own technological and military capabilities at the expense of the West.
“Across all five of our countries we are seeing a sharp rise in aggressive attempts by other states to steal competitive advantage,” said MI5 director General Ken McCallum.
“This contest is particularly acute on emerging technologies; states which lead the way in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and synthetic biology will have the power to shape all our futures. We all need to be aware, and respond, before it’s too late.”
In the UK, he said, more than 20,000 people had been approached on LinkedIn by Chinese agents intent on stealing industrial secrets, while a Chinese company is believed to have stolen data from a British university.
The five nations also jointly launched a set of principles of secure innovation based on standard security procedures. These are know the threats; secure your environment; secure your products; secure your partnerships; and secure your growth. There’s a Quick Start guide here.
“It is vital organizations take state and criminal threats seriously and ensure they are effectively managing the risks, including those emanating from cyberspace,” said Lindy Cameron, CEO of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
In Australia, said Mike Burgess, director general of ASIC, China is believed to have recently planted an academic at a research institution with the aim of stealing secrets.
“Their spymaster gave them money and a shopping list of intelligence requirements and sent them to Australia,” he said.
Back in May, the Five Eyes nations released a joint alert, warning that a state-sponsored Chinese hacking group known as Volt Typhoon had been spying on U.S. critical infrastructure. The hackers could, they said, be using similar techniques worldwide.
U.S. FBI director Christopher Wray told the meeting that there were currently more than 2,000 FBI active investigations linked to Chinese espionage.
“China has long targeted businesses with a web of techniques all at once: cyber intrusions, human intelligence operations, seemingly innocuous corporate investments and transactions,” he said.
“Every strand of that web had become more brazen, and more dangerous.”
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