The FBI and MI5 issue a rare joint statement warning tech companies of China's large-scale state-sponsored hacking and a global network of agents to steal IP
Officials say Beijing employs large-scale hacking and global network of agents to steal Western technology; U.S. also warns about efforts to influence policy-making
Wall Street JournalMax Colchester
Context & Ripple Effects
The warning followed a joint U.S. cybersecurity advisory describing China-backed exploitation of publicly known vulnerabilities to monitor network traffic. The FBI and MI5 broaden that technical risk framing to include technology theft through agents and attempts to influence policymaking.
Tech companies are put on notice to treat cyber intrusions, employee and partner approaches, and policy engagement as connected channels for protecting intellectual property.
The FBI and MI5 publicly align their threat assessment, giving U.S. and U.K. companies a common basis for escalating suspected China-linked activity to authorities.
Second-order effects
Companies with valuable technology face pressure to tighten controls around known vulnerabilities, supplier access, and sensitive research as the warning links network compromise with human intelligence collection.
The public U.S.-U.K. stance gives other allied security agencies a clearer foundation for coordinated warnings to companies, as later reflected in a broader multi-country telecom alert.
Third-order effects
Repeated allied warnings point to cyber defense becoming a shared economic-security function, with protection of commercial technology increasingly coordinated across intelligence and law-enforcement partners.
If this pattern persists, firms operating at the intersection of strategic technology and public policy will need to manage cyber risk and foreign-influence risk as part of the same governance problem.
The trend: Allied governments are increasingly treating state-linked hacking, technology acquisition, and policy influence as an integrated economic-security threat.
That MI5 DG was allowed to say this underscores sea-change in UK policy: “The most game-changing challenge we face comes from the Chinese Communist Party. It's covertly applying pressure across the globe. This might feel abstract. But it's real and it's pressing...We need to act”…
Buried because of Boris' woes but really significant they've taken this step of issuing a joint warning. Pertinent timing too for Australia with all the ‘reset’ talk about China: https://www.bbc.com/...
“FBI director Christopher Wray said China was the ‘biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security’ and had interfered in politics, including recent elections.” https://www.bbc.com/...
'The most game-changing challenge we face comes from the Chinese Communist Party. It's covertly applying pressure across the globe. This might feel abstract. But it's real & pressing. We need to talk about it. We need to act.' Sobering unity from US, UK. https://www.mi5.gov.uk/..…
Heads of MI5 and FBI gave their first ever joint speech at Thames House in London this afternoon to audience of business & academic leaders, on danger of Chinese espionage. MI5's Ken McCallum warned of “coordinated campaign on a grand scale” & “strategic contest across decades”.
“There is plenty you can do to protect yourself. Proportionately. Without making your organisation, your start-up or your university a fortress” Reminded of my warnings about interested “visitors” to UK university quantum computing labs. Ignored 🤷♂️ https://www.mi5.gov.uk/...
MI5 DG: Chinese espionage uses “subtle, patient approach” & many agents of CCP are unwitting Westerners. Says MI5 has doubled “previously-constrained” effort v China in last three years, and plans to double again. Seven times as many China-related investigations today as in 2018.
I welcome the public disclosure by MI5 of what has been long understood in the intelligence community: the sophisticated, comprehensive and systemic foreign interference, espionage and cyber security threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party: https://www.mi5.gov.uk/...
“Mr. Wray said the FBI is opening a new counterintelligence investigation into China roughly every 12 hours. Mr. McCallum said MI5 was running seven times as many investigations into suspicious Chinese activity now as it was in 2018.” https://twitter.com/...
No business is surprised by this warning - everyone has known and experienced this for years now. However, it's real progress for America's government to join with Great Britain's to acknowledge it. It will be epic if they actually do something about it. https://www.wsj.com/...
For the first time, Heads of the FBI and MI5 shared a public platform today. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 MI5 Director General Ken McCallum and @FBI Director Chris Wray came together to send a clear signal on a massive shared challenge: China. See more: https://www.mi5.gov.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
“'Chinese govt is set on stealing your technology—whatever it is that makes your industry tick—& using it to undercut your business & dominate your mkt,' Mr. Wray told..business people. 'They're set on using every tool at their disposal'” https://www.wsj.com/...
Former Australian politician Sam Dastyari gets a shout out in this speech by MI5 Director General Ken McCallum. And this protective security advice (circa 1990) seems to have aged well. Some would argue it should be in today's #auspol induction handbook https://www.mi5.gov.uk/...…