A Chinese spy used LinkedIn to target thousands of British officials and attempt to mine secrets, according to a report.
The investigation, published in The Times, suggests an intelligence officer for Beijing’s main spy agency used aliases on the platform, which is the world’s biggest professional networking site, to try to bribe civil servants and officials working in the military and technology to pass on sensitive information.
MI5 chiefs have previously warned China is using espionage to target the UK’s tech and research sectors in an attempt to eat into the country’s commercial advantages.
LinkedIn, which has more than 900 million users worldwide, has come under fire for the lack of security checks users must undergo before setting up an account.
Last year, the platform introduced a feature that allows users to check when someone else’s profile was created and last updated as a way of identifying fake accounts.
But users can still affiliate themselves with a company without having to prove they have worked there.
This allows operators of phishing scams to claim they work at a legitimate organisation in an attempt to fool victims into believing they are a colleague or a business contact.
‘We are under attack’
Glenn Buff, a cybersecurity expert and member of the all-party parliamentary group on cybersecurity, said he would like to see LinkedIn do more about how the company verifies accounts.
“We are under attack and it’s very difficult for businesses to admit that to their shareholders,” he said.
“The attacks are more significant for some companies than for others. For some, this is…
