China spies goal 100 UK teachers to get arms on James Bond-style secret tech
China is looking at real-life Q’s to get hands on 007-style tech after eggheads were given research cash by an organisation the British security service says is a front for Beijing’s intelligence agency
China officials are after our James Bond-style tech(Image: PA)
Chinese spooks targeted more than 100 UK-linked boffins in a bid to get their hands on Bond-style spy tech, MI5 has warned. The eggheads were given research cash by an organisation the British security service says is a front for Beijing’s intelligence agency.
Their work included AI, cyber security, top secret comms and even hiding data inside pictures. MI5 says the China General Technology Research Institute, also known as CAGT, funded projects that could directly boost China’s spying capabilities.
It also believes sensitive British information was passed back to Beijing. But many of the boffs were clueless about who was really behind the cash.
The cash has come from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s intelligence agency(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Universities and researchers have now been told to immediately cut ties with the organisation.
In one case uncovered by MI5, Chinese intelligence officers are understood to have even posed as researchers at a British university to make it easier to get hold of valuable material.
In another, Beijing allegedly gained access to cutting-edge British work on scraping useful information from social media.
MI5 have told researchers to stop the work (Image: Getty Images)
The Bond-style projects also included “steganography”, a technique used to hide secret information inside apparently innocent pictures.
MI5 said: “The primary purpose of CGTRI is to fund academic research that directly improves MSS technical capability for espionage.”
The MSS is China’s Ministry of State Security, its civilian intelligence agency.
MI5 have warned boffins over the research cash (Image: PA)
MI5 warned universities that continuing to work with the organisation could land academics in trouble under national security laws.
Researchers have also been urged to check where cash for projects with Chinese institutions ultimately comes from.
MI5 said many universities and academics had previously dealt with CGTRI “in good faith” because its alleged links to Beijing’s spooks had been hidden.
