1 week ago
3
Chinese and Russian operatives are reportedly utilizing charismatic women to infiltrate tech companies, seduce employees, and bargain commercialized secrets.
He met her astatine a conference. She seemed brilliant, charming, and genuinely funny successful his work. Years later, helium realised she was portion of a cautiously orchestrated quality operation, designed to extract secrets from America’s tech frontier. This is the world of espionage successful Silicon Valley today.
Chinese and Russian operatives are reportedly utilizing charismatic women to infiltrate tech companies, seduce employees, and bargain commercialized secrets. They sometimes wed their targets and person children to support semipermanent access. Named “sex warfare” by quality experts, this reportedly poses a increasing menace to US technological dominance.
James Mulvenon, main quality serviceman of Pamir Consulting, which advises US companies investing successful China, has witnessed the surge firsthand. “I’m getting an tremendous fig of precise blase LinkedIn requests from the aforesaid benignant of charismatic young Chinese woman,” helium said. “It truly seems to person ramped up recently.”
At a caller concern league successful Virginia connected Chinese concern risks, Mulvenon noted that 2 charismatic Chinese women attempted to summation entry. “We didn’t fto them in,” helium said. “But they had each the accusation [about the event] and everything else.”
Mulvenon, a counterintelligence seasoned of 30 years, calls the maneuver a “real vulnerability” for the US due to the fact that it is culturally and legally restrained successful specified operations. “So they person an asymmetric vantage erstwhile it comes to enactment warfare.”
The New Face of Espionage
Sex-based espionage is lone 1 portion of the threat. Experts accidental China is hosting startup competitions connected US ungraded to extract concern plans, portion Russia and China are utilizing mean citizens, investors, academics, crypto analysts, arsenic informal quality agents, making these operations harder to spot.
A erstwhile counterintelligence serviceman recounted a lawsuit involving a “beautiful” Russian pistillate who joined an American aerospace technologist portion pursuing delicate projects. “Showing up, marrying a target, having kids with a target-and conducting a lifelong postulation operation, it’s precise uncomfortable to deliberation astir but it’s truthful prevalent,” helium said.
Intellectual spot theft costs up to $600 cardinal a year, mostly from China. Startups hazard losing secrets oregon being forced to determination to China if they stock plans with Chinese investors.
Silicon Valley: ‘Wild West’ of Espionage
The Valley is present a hub for “soft” economical espionage, targeting tech and commercialized secrets. Mulvenon calls China’s attack “drafting,” buying stakes successful DoD-funded startups to artifact US access. “It’s the Wild West retired there,” said Jeff Stoff, a erstwhile US information analyst.
The region’s unfastened civilization draws spies similar moths to a flame, with adjacent allies similar South Korea and Israel softly gathering intelligence.
In Silicon Valley, governmental spying is progressive too. California hosts a Chinese quality portion that recruits section leaders and politicians. Cases similar Rose Pak, a almighty San Francisco broker, amusement however subtle power operations tin be.
During the 2008 Olympic Torch Run, Chinese quality reportedly moved thousands of students to suppress protests by Tibetans, Uighurs, and Falun Gong supporters.
Russian espionage has besides evolved, from Cold War surveillance to infiltrating task superior and tech startups, inactive utilizing honeypots and intermediaries adjacent aft the Russian consulate closed successful 2017.
China casts a wider net, described by erstwhile officers arsenic an “Oklahoma onshore rush” for exertion and IP.
US counterintelligence faces hurdles: startups often underreport threats, and the unfastened civilization makes infiltration easy. As tech spreads to Boulder, Chapel Hill, and Austin, caller vulnerabilities whitethorn commencement to rise. NDTV WORLD
The station Read Entire Article
English (US) ·