MI5 Chief: Chinese Spies Targeted More Than 20,000 Britons on LinkenIn

The amount has doubled in two and a half years as the Security Service detects ’massive amounts of covert activity by the likes of China in particular.’

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum gives his annual threat update at MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London, on July 14, 2021. Yui Mok/PA

Chinese agents have targeted at least 20,000 Britons on websites such as LinkedIn in a bid to get information, the UK’s chief spy said on Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of a summit of Five-Eyes security chiefs in California, MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum said his teams “detect massive amounts of covert activity by the likes of China in particular” besides those from Russia and Iran.