The Five Eyes intelligence alliance has issued a warning about China’s ongoing campaign to recruit Western nationals via LinkedIn and other professional networks, offering cash in exchange for state secrets and sensitive government or corporate information. The campaign targets individuals with access to classified or commercially valuable data, using social engineering tactics that have been observed for several years but appear to be intensifying. This matters because cloud engineers and architects working on government or defence-adjacent projects are plausible targets given their access to sensitive infrastructure.

Architect’s Take: Review your organisation’s social media and acceptable use policies to ensure staff understand the risks of unsolicited professional outreach, particularly from overseas contacts offering paid consulting or research opportunities. Consider adding LinkedIn-based social engineering scenarios to your security awareness training, especially for teams handling government, defence, or critical national infrastructure workloads.

Original advisory: Five Eyes: Watch out for odd LinkedIn connection requests, China’s back on the hunt for state secrets