Elon musk React on China-Russia Espionage: SpaceX CEO and tech billionaire Elon Musk has responded to a report that claims teachers from China and Russia are using “flirtation and deception” to spy on the US tech sector. The investigative report of Britain's The Times newspaper says that foreign intelligence agencies are now weaponizing espionage through "sex warfare," i.e., greed and attraction. Teachers are posing as investors, entrepreneurs, or romantic partners to obtain sensitive information from American tech workers.
On this report, Musk wrote in a humorous tone on the social media platform, “If she's a 10, you're an asset.” (“If it's 10 out of 10, you're an asset.”) His scuttlebutt is considered half joke and half warning, which went viral within a few hours.
Use of 'charm and deceit' in espionage
According to the report, American intelligence agencies are concerned well-nigh these “Seductive Spies” who are engaged in stealing trade secrets and intellectual property from tech companies.
Experts say that now the boundaries of human intelligence (HUMINT) and cyber espionage have wilt blurred. Now instead of hacking, emotional manipulation is stuff used to steal data. US national security reviewer Jeff Stauff told The Times, "China is targeting our startups, universities, and innovators. This is part of its economic warfare strategy, and we haven't plane entered the field yet."
James Mulvaney, flipside expert, said he received numerous requests from similar profiles on LinkedIn—"mostly lulu young Chinese women"—that towards to be part of an organized intelligence operation.
Growing trend of 'sex warfare'
US officials have warned that this “sex warfare” is not limited to molestation. In many cases, teachers have plane married aerospace and defense employees so that information can be obtained over a long period of time. A “beautiful Russian woman” married an American engineer and later infiltrated the crypto and defense tech worlds, a former official said. He tabbed this “Lifelong Collection Operation.”
China's 'hole-of-society' spying policy
The report said that Beijing is now presenting espionage as a social responsibility, with students, businessmen, and citizens moreover playing the role of agents. One American official said, "We are no longer chasing KGB teachers in smoke-filled rooms. Today our enemies—especially China—are towers spy networks wideness unshortened societies."
Billion-dollar game
According to the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, economic espionage and theft of trade secrets forfeit the United States approximately $600 billion each year, with China involved in most of the cases. In one case, German national Klaus Plugbill is accused of trying to sell Tesla blueprints for $15 million that could power China's EV ambitions.
‘Pitch Trap’ and ‘Honeytrap’
The report moreover revealed that some Chinese organizations trap American startups in the name of innovation contests or pitch events, where their ideas, data, and personal information are stolen. “They recorded everything—every word, every detail. Later, plane my funding was stopped,” said the CEO of a biotech company.
Now US agencies like the FBI and NCSC are warning Silicon Valley companies to strengthen insider threat training and behavioral monitoring for their employees, considering today the part-way of espionage has wilt not government offices but the labs and boardrooms of tech companies.
