Allied and partner security agencies warn that Chinese spies are aggressively using online job-posting platforms to recruit people with access to sensitive information. The intelligence network known as Five Eyes said the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military intelligence services used professional networking sites and online recruitment services to target government and military personnel and others who could access classified data.
“Chinese military intelligence services ultimately seek to acquire privileged military, political and economic intelligence that can provide China with a strategic and tactical advantage over the Five Eyes,” the domestic security agencies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States said in early June 2026.
Although individual countries have issued similar warnings, the joint “Safeguarding Our Secrets” bulletin was described as unprecedented. The agencies said CCP spies focused on defense, foreign affairs and intelligence specialists, and military personnel, including those stationed in the Indo-Pacific. Also at risk are journalists, think tank employees and those with peripheral access to government data. The bulletin said the spies used “an aggressive online recruitment strategy” and pressured successful candidates to provide confidential information “for unspecified clients who are associated with the Chinese government.” Recruits could receive up to several thousand dollars per report, and more for increasingly sensitive information, the bulletin said.
A week after the warning, U.S. authorities announced the disabling of 13 fake consulting company websites used to target current and former security clearance holders and others with access to classified information. “The Chinese government continues to pursue U.S. innovation, research, and sensitive information through a variety of deceptive techniques, including fraudulent job postings and online recruitment efforts,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans said. The U.K.’s MI5 domestic security service in November 2025 warned lawmakers about Chinese agents trying to spy on Parliament.
CCP operatives have used traditional espionage techniques such as blackmail and bribery, as well as cyber hacking and clandestine data collection, defense experts say. U.S. and other officials have praised Five Eyes and similar multilateral partnerships as a formidable deterrence against regional security threats.