Several New Zealanders almost gave sensitive information to China, SIS boss says

4:50 am today

SIS director general Andrew Hampton.

Photo: VNP/Louis Collins

Several New Zealanders have come close to unwittingly giving sensitive information to China's military, the Security Intelligence Service boss says.

The NZSIS and Five Eyes partners warned the Chinese military was using job sites like LinkedIn to target people who likely have access to government and military information - particularly those with national security clearances.

They said it used an "aggressive online recruitment strategy": advertising fake freelance foreign policy and defence analyst roles, then pressuring successful candidates to provide the sensitive information.

SIS director general Andrew Hampton said the activity was widespread and increasing, and in most cases people just ignored the approaches.

"But there have been instances in New Zealand over the last couple of years where individuals have unwittingly been pulled into engaging with what we now know as the PRC's [People's Republic of China] military intelligence," he said.

"That's a real concern in terms of espionage."

Hampton said the SIS had investigated "several" cases in the last three or four years, but would not specify how many.

"In the investigations that we have been involved with, we have been able to head off the activity before it got to the point where any sensitive information had been passed over," he said.

But there was a "real risk" that could have happened, and the SIS was "not all seeing and all knowing", Hampton said.

A Five Eyes document published on Thursday revealed that it had happened - but it did not specify in which country.

"Five Eyes agencies have identified individuals who have undertaken these activities, leading to criminal prosecutions, job losses, and security-clearance revocation," it said.

Hampton warned anyone who had access to sensitive information to be careful about what they said about themselves online, and wary of unsolicited approaches.

"If someone's contacting you with an offer that sounds too good to be true, to do a bit of research on the side, be skeptical," he said.

"We're not saying don't use social media or professional networking sites - just don't tell the world you hold a national security clearance or work with sensitive government or military information."

'Aggressive' recruitment tactics - Five Eyes

On Thursday, Five Eyes partners - New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, United States and Canada - published a document online to raise awareness about what it said China's military intelligence services were doing.

"These actors use an aggressive online recruitment strategy whereby intelligence officers or their affiliates pose as employees of private consultancies, think tanks or human resources (HR) firms, and place online job advertisements for foreign policy and defence analysts (or similar).

"Successful candidates are pressured to provide "non-public" information for unspecified clients who are associated with the Chinese government."

The document said successful candidates were asked to write a trial report on topics like China's bilateral relations, defence issues or international trade.

"Recruits are informed that for additional reports, the client requires more privileged information.

"At some point in the recruitment process, intelligence officers typically move the conversation to a more 'secure' platform, such as encrypted messaging applications."

They would be paid hundreds or thousands of dollars per report, and could be offered more money for increasingly sensitive information, it said.

It said China's military intelligence services sought to acquire intelligence that could "provide China with a strategic and tactical advantage over the Five Eyes".

Hampton said the SIS would do everything it could to detect and disrupt the activity, but anyone with access to sensitive and classified information must understand they could be targeted.

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