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☽ malowitch ☾ posted a photo:

Taking you back in the 2010s when photography was about the oversatured pictures with so much grain and so much creative ideas without using any Photoshop or AI. Welcome back in the past! 😊

US authorities on Wednesday seized 13 internet domains they suspect were used by Chinese agents to obtain classified information from Americans with security clearances.

Last week, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — composed of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — issued a rare warning that Chinese military intelligence services were using LinkedIn and other job platforms to pry secret information.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice announced the seizure of domain names allegedly used by sham consulting sites to target Americans with access to classified information.

“Today’s seizures send a clear message that any attempts to exploit Americans trusted with access to our nation’s most sensitive information will be exposed and dismantled,” said US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.

Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said the seizures illustrate “the lengths the Chinese government’s intelligence services will go to as they try to use AI-generated content to trick, recruit, or coerce current and former US security clearance holders into sharing sensitive information.”

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg warned Americans they should treat any offers of quick income for vague consulting “with extreme caution and remain vigilant for warning signs of malicious targeting.”

The unnamed conspirators behind the websites “have denied any involvement by any foreign government,” according to the Justice Department statement.

Chinese spies are posing as job recruiters to trick staff in western governments into disclosing sensitive information, the Five Eyes alliance of security agencies has warned.

China’s military intelligence services advertise false jobs such as foreign policy or defence analysts on platforms including LinkedIn, the spy agencies of Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand said jointly late Wednesday.

The agents pretend to be HR consultants or employees of “legitimate-looking” private consultancies or think-tanks that claim to be located outside of China.

They pressurise candidates into revealing “non-public” information during the interview process, including by writing a report, the intelligence agencies said.

People with security clearance, military personnel, journalists and academics are among those targeted, the Five Eyes added.

Military staff may be asked about their roles and unit activities, home base or naval vessel.

Recruits receive anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per report, and may be offered more money in return for increasingly sensitive information, the agencies said.

They warned that “while applicants often have no direct access to classified information, even unclassified information” can be helpful to the Chinese government.

“Certain types of data can place the lives of frontline military or other personnel at risk, can weaken our economic prosperity, and enable interference in our democratic processes,” the agencies wrote.

They said they had identified people who had been duped by the scam, “leading to criminal prosecutions, job losses, and security-clearance revocation”.

Western spy agencies have repeatedly warned of the threat of espionage from China, as well as from Russia and Iran, in recent years.

Last month, two Chinese-British dual nationals were convicted by a jury in London of spying on Hong Kong dissidents on Beijing’s behalf. They are awaiting sentencing.

☽ malowitch ☾ posted a photo:

Taking you back in the 2010s when photography was about the oversatured pictures with so much grain and so much creative ideas without using any Photoshop or AI. Welcome back in the past! 😊