The Five Eyes intelligence alliance has released a joint security bulletin detailing the use of professional networking sites by Chinese military intelligence to illicitly acquire sensitive information.

五眼情報聯盟發佈了一份聯合安全公告，詳細說明中國軍方情報部門如何利用專業社交網站非法獲取敏感資訊。

The 'Safeguarding Our Secrets' bulletin identifies a systematic effort by Chinese operatives to utilize platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Upwork to target personnel with access to privileged data. These operatives typically adopt personas as representatives of private consultancies, human resources firms, or think tanks, often claiming to operate outside of China. The primary targets include government and military personnel, security clearance holders—particularly those with expertise in the Indo-Pacific region—and professionals in academia, journalism, and economic sectors who may possess indirect access to state data.

《保護我們的秘密》公告指出，中國特工正系統性地利用 LinkedIn、Indeed 及 Upwork 等平台，目標是能接觸機密數據的人員。這些特工通常偽裝成私人顧問公司、人力資源公司或智庫的代表，且經常聲稱其運作地點在中國境外。主要目標包括政府與軍方人員、持有安全許可證者（尤其是對印太地區有專長的人員），以及可能間接接觸國家數據的學術界、新聞界及經濟領域專業人士。

The operational methodology involves a multi-stage recruitment process. Initial contact is established via fictitious job advertisements for roles such as defense or foreign policy analysts. Following a CV screening and virtual interviews designed to gauge the candidate's access to government contacts, applicants are required to produce trial reports on bilateral relations or trade issues. Subsequently, the communication is transitioned to encrypted messaging platforms, where recruits are incentivized with payments ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars via third-party services like PayPal, Wise, or cryptocurrency. The alliance asserts that the aggregation of even unclassified information can facilitate the construction of a comprehensive operational picture, thereby granting China a strategic advantage.

其操作方法涉及多階段的招募過程。首先透過虛構的職位廣告（如國防或外交政策分析師）建立初步聯繫。在經過履歷篩選及旨在評估候選人接觸政府聯繫能力之視訊面試後，申請人需就雙邊關係或貿易議題撰寫試用報告。隨後，溝通將轉移至加密通訊平台，招募者將透過 PayPal、Wise 或加密貨幣等第三方服務，獲得數百至數千美元不等的報酬。該聯盟主張，即便僅是彙整非機密資訊，也能協助構建全面的行動圖景，進而賦予中國戰略優勢。

Institutional responses vary by stakeholder. The United Kingdom's MI5 reports that approximately 20,000 British citizens may have been approached. In the United States, the FBI has highlighted the reality of the threat, citing the 2018 conviction of former CIA officer Kevin Mallory as a precedent for such LinkedIn-based recruitment. LinkedIn has stated that identity misrepresentation violates its terms of service and that it remains focused on detecting state-sponsored abuse. Conversely, the Chinese government, via Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, has characterized these allegations as 'malicious slander' and 'pure fabrication,' asserting that the Five Eyes alliance itself constitutes the world's largest intelligence network and a threat to global peace.

各利益相關方的回應不一。英國軍情五處 (MI5) 報告稱，約有 2 萬名英國公民可能曾被接觸。在美國，FBI 強調了該威脅的真實性，並引用 2018 年前 CIA 官員 Kevin Mallory 被定罪的案例，作為此類基於 LinkedIn 招募行為的先例。LinkedIn 則表示，身分造假違反其服務條款，公司將持續專注於偵測國家支持的濫用行為。相反，中國政府透過外交部發言人毛寧將這些指控形容為「惡意誹謗」與「純屬捏造」，並聲稱五眼聯盟本身即是全球最大的情報網絡，且對全球和平構成威脅。

The Five Eyes alliance continues to advise heightened vigilance among government and military personnel to prevent the inadvertent compromise of national security.

五眼聯盟持續建議政府與軍方人員提高警覺，以防止不慎導致國家安全受損。