For decades, espionage conjured images of clandestine meetings, dead drops and undercover operatives. Today, much of that tradecraft has migrated online. According to a newly released joint bulletin by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, Chinese intelligence services are increasingly using professional networking platforms, recruitment websites and freelance job portals to identify, cultivate and recruit individuals with access to sensitive information.
The warning is significant not merely because of the scale of the activity but because it reveals how traditional espionage has been adapted to the digital age. What emerges is a picture of a sophisticated, patient and highly scalable intelligence-gathering operation that blends social engineering, commercial cover identities and online recruitment techniques to target governments, militaries, research institutions and private industry across the Western world.
