British intelligence has warned that China, Russia and Iran are spying on ordinary people and seeking to manipulate them

Head of MI5, UK Home Intelligence, Ken McCallum, on Wednesday warned of threats from hostile states like China and Russia and urged people to be as vigilant against them as they are against terrorism.

“Over time, we need to create the same awareness and resistance among the public to state threats that we have obtained with terrorism over the years,” he said in his annual address to the MI5 headquarters in London.

And citing cyber attacks and disinformation alongside espionage activity, he warned that these are not limited to government and institutions.

“We have identified over 10,000 sneaky approaches to normal people in the UK”

“We have identified over 10,000 sneaky approaches of normal people in the UK by foreign spies seeking to manipulate them“, He detailed.

McCallum said MI5 faces daily espionage threats and activities which originate mainly “in a wide variety of forms from state or state-supported organizations in Russia, China or Iran” They need to be managed in conjunction with the UK’s efforts to engage with the three countries.

Intelligence agencies in the UK and other Western countries have long warned of the growing threat posed by China and Russia in both traditional espionage and cyber attacks. “We see the findings of brilliant academics and researchers being stolen or copied“And the work of several companies,” he added.

“It is happening on a large scale. And it affects us all. British jobs, British public services, British future, ”insisted the head of the secret service.

And he alerted the public by calling on them not to be afraid but to remain vigilant: “If you work in a high-tech company, or are engaged in cutting-edge scientific research, or export to certain markets, it will be interesting. – more than you might think. – for foreign spies ”.

“The findings of brilliant academics and researchers are stolen or copied (…) It happens on a large scale”

McCallum also described the growing threat of far-right terrorism, for which the responsibility was assumed by your organization in 2020.

The UK official said that one in five anti-terrorism investigations in the UK, excluding Northern Ireland, involved right-wing extremists. And out of 29 terrorist plots that have derailed in their final stages over the past four years, 10 were far-right terrorism, he said.

In line with that, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray warned earlier this year that domestic extremism was a growing threat in the United States.

“Far right extremism is here to stay”

“Far-right extremism is here to stay,” lamented McCallum, who explained that these movements add to their ranks teens encouraged by a digital environment of “echo chambers” with hate messages. There are even young people as young as 13 who are recruited and who express violent aspirations to impress each other. It also makes it difficult to determine which ones are really inclined to take violent action.

“It is rather a desperate, almost cultivated phenomenon in which there are atomized people on the Internet,” he added.

Britain’s spy ring also includes the Secret Intelligence Service – better known as MI6 and home to fictional super spy James Bond – as well as the cybersecurity agency GCHQ.

(With information from AFP)

KEEP READING: