April 21, 2021
The counter-intelligence service MI5 has revealed that spies may be using fake Linked In profiles to help steal classified information. MI5 says that in the last five years at least 10,000 British citizens have been approached by fake profiles linked to hostile states. It warned users who accepted such connection requests that they may have been lured into sharing secrets. While MI5 did not explicitly mention LinkedIn, the BBC revealed that the Microsoft-owned service is in fact the affected platform.
The more than 10,000 British citizens include employees of virtually all government agencies, as well as key industries, who could be offered speaking, business and travel opportunities that could lead to attempts to recruit them to provide confidential information. It is also speculated that a large number of those targeted were initially preoccupied with the profiles they contacted online.
According to the government’s head of security, Dominic Fortescue, “Since the start of the pandemic, many of us have been working remotely and having to spend more time at home on our personal devices. As a result, staff has become more vulnerable to malicious approaches from hostile security services and criminal organizations on social media.”
For more information, read the <a href=”https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56812746″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>original story</a> in BBC
