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China’s Ministry of Intelligence warns against theft of “environmental data” by foreign NGOs

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China’s top spy agency On Monday, China warned against foreign NGOs and foundations, saying two organizations had stolen “environmental data” from China under the guise of research and environmental protection.

The allegations were outlined in an article posted on the Ministry of State Security’s public WeChat account and related to two cases of theft of “geographical, meteorological, biological and other sensitive data from China’s important nature reserves, posing risks and dangers to represent national security.” .

In the first case, a professor from an undisclosed country “illegally” collected data from an unspecified national wetland reserve and forest area, it said.

The ministry said the professor confessed to collecting and stealing data “under the guise of academic collaboration.”

The ministry said the academic was punished but did not specify the size of the penalties.

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In another case, a “foreign university” cooperated with the scientific management of a national nature reserve in southwest China with the support of a foreign NGO.

The foreigners “instructed and forced” on-site staff to “illegally steal various types of sensitive data from the nature reserve” using various incentives, including sex, it said.

The NGO, which has a “complex background,” is helping “a certain Western country” to “steal central, sensitive data” under the guise of project cooperation, the ministry explained.

The data was obtained through “the installation of weather stations, infrared camera equipment, GPS mapping and the theft of classified computer data.”

It said these acts had “caused serious damage to our ecological security.”

The article also warned of the risk of environmental data leaks by Chinese companies and government agencies, saying some information management systems had backdoors that “have become targets for hostile forces abroad to steal our sensitive secret data.”

The ministry urged the public to be alert to environmental espionage and report possible incidents to authorities.

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Beijing followed suit with revisions to the law in July last year Anti-espionage law This expanded both the definition of espionage and the investigative powers of state security authorities.

The department’s public warning is the latest in a series of posts it has released over the past year.

How the otherwise mysterious agency has become increasingly active on social mediaIt has warned about the threat of foreign spies and urged the public to share information about suspicious activity.

The ministry also covers a broader range of threats.

State Security Minister Chen Yixin said last month the ministry would protect “traditional” security areas such as political, economic and military security, as well as “non-traditional” areas such as biosecurity, data security and artificial intelligence.

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