Internet security

Spies, lies and dormant ties: how to use and abuse LinkedIn

Dickson loved LinkedIn. He checked the professional social network almost every day for new contacts. It was “almost like an addiction”, he said. Bill was also a fan. It’s “a very good site”, he said. “A great venue [and] the ultimate playground for collection” of contacts. Bill and Dickson are not part of each other’s networks, though. Bill Evanina is the director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center. He was referring, in a 2018 interview with Reuters, to China’s “super aggressive” attempts to target senior intelligence and law enforcement officials via LinkedIn.  Dickson Yeo, on the other hand, is in custody in the US awaiting sentencing for acting as an illegal foreign government agent, having admitted working for Chinese intelligence. He used LinkedIn to harvest information from intelligence experts.