Too Sexy to Be True? Foreign Honey Traps Prey on US Techies
Russian and Chinese intelligence assets reportedly employing “sex warfare”
“We’re not chasing a KGB agent in a smoky guesthouse in Germany anymore,” an unidentified top United States counterintelligence official told The Sunday Times. “Our adversaries—particularly the Chinese—are using a whole-of-society approach to exploit all aspects of our technology and Western talent.”
In espionage parlance, “whole-of-society” refers to nations targeting businesses, individuals, and institutions rather than government facilities.
One rapidly growing tool to do precisely that, as James Mulvenon, Pamir Consulting’s chief intelligence officer, explained in the same article, may involve an age-old—yet with a new, high-tech twist—technique: sex. “I’m getting an enormous number of very sophisticated LinkedIn requests from the same type of attractive young Chinese woman. It really seems to have ramped up recently.”
Mulvenon isn’t alone; the five other experts The Sunday Times interviewed also agreed that China, as well as Russia, appears to be doubling down on its seductive efforts. Making the honey traps more difficult to expose, both countries are relying less on trained professionals and more on civilian entrepreneurs, academics, investors, as well as—seemingly—plain, ordinary citizens.
The Spy Who Came
As an example, another anonymous counterintelligence specialist spoke of investigating an alluring Russian woman who had worked for, and was married to, a fellow US aerospace firm employee. The employee, after being exposed as having been trained by a “Russian soft-power school,” reappeared later as a cryptocurrency authority.
“But she doesn’t stay in crypto,” the specialist added. “She is trying to get to the heights of the military-space innovation community. The husband’s totally oblivious.”
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It’s a game the US is unfortunately particularly vulnerable to, as according to Mulvenon, “because we, by statute and by culture, do not do that. So they [other countries] have an asymmetric advantage when it comes to sex warfare.” Mulvenon himself was targeted, telling of being bombarded by “an enormous number of very sophisticated LinkedIn requests from the same type of attractive young Chinese woman.”
A Clear and Attractive Danger
Though The Sunday Times didn’t explore the concept, others in the intelligence and security communities are already warning about the dangers of honeypot 2.0: taking the tried-and-true technique and giving it an AI twist.
“As cyber threats grow more advanced, organizations and security teams face increasing pressure to keep up with how attackers operate,” Dr. Luis O. Noguerol, Advanced Division of Informatics and Technology’s President and CEO and authority on data security, writes for Cyber Security Tribe. “Traditional defenses, while effective to a degree, often react too slowly to new types of attacks and shifting methods. In response, cybersecurity is entering a new phase. One where artificial intelligence not only finds threats but also learns from them and adjusts in real time.”
Scary enough, but far more so when you factor in how difficult it’s getting to tell a deepfake from an actual, bona fide human being. Couple that with the resources entire governments can deploy—particularly China, which is already a world leader in AI development—and you can see why the US tech industry is worried.
Yes, I Expect You to Talk
Or, rather, they should be worried, as though security experts are sounding the alarm, they might have to fight a battle on two fronts: on one side is a host of more countries ready, willing, and frighteningly able to do anything and everything in order to abscond with as many cutting-edge secrets as they possibly can. Bad enough, but on the other hand are today’s toxically masculine tech bros; a subculture whose chest-thumping arrogance makes them extremely vulnerable to good, old-fashioned seductive praise.
Plus, they might think themselves too smart to fall for such an obvious ruse, when in reality, otherwise intelligent people have—and probably always will—be tricked by those who understand and can skillfully wield the power of sex.
Meanwhile, whether you’re a nice, juicy US technology sector target or just someone who has something someone else wants, first and foremost, think with your big brain, not your little one, and if something—or someone—seems too good to be true, then in all likelihood, they probably are.
Image Sources: Depositphotos
