MI5 head warns of 'epic scale' of Chinese espionage
More than 20,000 people in the UK have now been approached covertly online by Chinese spies, the head of MI5 said.
It comes amid a new warning to tens of thousands of British businesses of the risk of having their innovation stolen.
Crikey that sounds like a dodgy situation.
Maybe China is interested in the secrets of HS2, Net Zero technology, the technological battle against climate change and how we make use of China's solar panels without enough sunshine.
Or maybe the real focus is on more subtle secrets such as how the BBC manages to keep going and why senior media officials such as Gary Lineker are paid so much.
Although they may already know all of that.
10 comments:
During my last employment stint in aerospace, I together with others was so approached. But to be solicited by a Chinese spy is to break out in derision. They are transparently unconvincing, if my experience is anything to go by.
Like you I find it hard to imagine that we Brits know anything or have anything that the Chinese would be interested in. We're not worth the candle any more, are we?
Approached covertly online?
Ai Kai Haht, have you been playing me for a fool all these years?
Hah. Shows what they know. East Asians do not have the highest average IQ for nothing.
The ones that the genii at MI5 know about are they ones they were supposed to find.
A bit like always leaving an obvious error in some report or expenses claim so that the form checker can feel good about having found it. Salary justified.
The Inscrutable spy masters will use another race, and when they do get some nugget they will not let the opposition know that they know. Unless they want them to know that they know that they know. Etc.
Tammly - maybe unconvincing is an approach. They could be looking for people who want to be on their side for ideological reasons.
Peter - that's it, We're not worth the candle. Perhaps that doesn't matter and they are after quantity of info rather than quality.
Sam - so sorry, but surely quiet move to Portsmouth and bicycle surveillance no coincidence either.
Doonhamer - I've often wondered how spy masters ever reach bedrock and know that they know. They must be a point where they have to send in some kind of report and hope nobody knows any more than is in the report.
"I've often wondered how spy masters ever reach bedrock and know that they know"
The scriptwriter of the recent Kim Philby dramatisation solved that one neatly. At one point the hero (whose name I have forgotten) took Anthony Blunt completely by surprise in a relaxed social setting by mispronouncing a name. Blunt's undisguised dismay at the (wrong) word gave the game away.
Well done, thought I, because otherwise it's smoke and mirrors all the way down, isn't it?
dearieme - our French teacher at school sometimes told us that during WWII the French resistance caught a few German spies via mispronounced names. I suppose it has to be something specific like a mistake which shouldn't be made or it is all smoke and mirrors.
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Beyond Enkription follows the real life of a real spy, Bill Fairclough (MI6 codename JJ) aka Edward Burlington who worked for British Intelligence, the CIA et al. It’s the stuff memorable spy films are made of, unadulterated, realistic yet punchy, pacy and provocative; a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
For the synopsis of Beyond Enkription see TheBurlingtonFiles website. This thriller is like nothing we have ever come across before. Indeed, we wonder what The Burlington Files would have been like if David Cornwell aka John le Carré had collaborated with Bill Fairclough. They did consider it and even though they didn’t collaborate, Beyond Enkription is still described as ”up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”. Why? The novel explores the exploitation of the ignorance and naivety of agents to the same extent as MI6 does in real life.
As for Bill Fairclough, he has even been described as a real life posh Harry Palmer; there are many intriguing bios of him on the web. As for Beyond Enkription, it’s a must read for espionage cognoscenti. To relish in this totally different fact based espionage thriller best do some research first. Try reading three brief news articles published on TheBurlingtonFiles website. One is about Bill Fairclough (August 2023), characters' identities (September 2021) and Pemberton's People (October 2022). What is amazing is that these articles were only published many years after Beyond Enkription itself was. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world!
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MI6 - thanks for the link, I'll take a look.
If you have any questions when reading or researching it, just ask us or contact TheBurlingtonFiles. Best wishes ...
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