ASIO chief Mike Burgess reveals cost of foreign spies targeting Australians

Australia’s top spy has revealed the shocking cost of foreign espionage, including issuing hundreds of malevolent social media friend requests daily.

Hundreds of malevolent social media friend requests are being issued daily by foreign spies targeting more Australians “more aggressively than ever before”, costing the nation more than $12.5bn, ASIO’s boss has revealed.

Issuing a “wake-up call” about the intensifying threat, ASIO director-general of security Mike Burgess warned an “eye-opening and eye-watering” range of increasingly “sophisticated and difficult-to-detect methods” were being deployed “to illicitly obtain valuable information”.

Warning “all too often, we make it all too easy” for foreign spies, Mr Burgess decried a “head-spinning” 35,000 people listing on a social media networking site that they had access to sensitive and potentially classified information.

Spies trawling social media were able to issue hundreds of friend requests daily, targeting thousands of people including students, business people, public servants, politicians and law enforcement officials – most were resisted, reported or ignored.

“Unfortunately, though, some are sucked in and end up being used – recklessly or consciously – to gather information for a foreign country,” he said.

ASIO director-general of security Mike Burgess. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Mr Burgess said spies usually tried to move the conversation to an encrypted messaging app and might even offer an overseas trip to meet in person.

Delivering the annual Hawke Lecture in Adelaide on Thursday night, Mr Burgess singled out the $368bn AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine project centred on that city, saying foreign intelligence services were “taking a very unhealthy interest” in the program and “its associated capabilities”.

Unveiling ASIO research into the cost of espionage, he said the $12.5bn annual figure was a significant underestimation because many stolen secrets were unknown or unreported.

Mr Burgess named only China and Russia, saying the latter remained “a persistent and aggressive espionage threat”, while giving as an example of complacency a trade official insisting Chinese intelligence services would be uninterested in his office in that country and people working there.

“You would be genuinely shocked by the number and names of countries trying to steal our secrets. The obvious candidates are very active, but even countries we consider friendly are targeting anyone and anything that could give them a strategic or tactical advantage, including sensitive but unclassified information,” Mr Burgess said.

“ … Employers are not the only ones recruiting online. Spies from multiple countries routinely and relentlessly trawl professional networking sites, seeking to identify, target and cultivate Australians with access to privileged information.”

Fake online job ads were being created by one “particularly aggressive and creative intelligence service”. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Fake online job ads were being created by one “particularly aggressive and creative intelligence service”, offering well-paid, part-time roles for people with expertise in defence or geopolitics.

Spies were claiming to be from fictional companies, posing as consultants, headhunters, local government officials, academics and think-tank researchers.

They mostly offer consultancies, promising thousands of dollars for reports on Australian trade, politics, economics, foreign policy, defence and security – with extra cash for insider or non-public information.

The ASIO research detailed “eye-opening and eye-watering” potential spying scenarios, including sabotage of critical infrastructure costing Australia $6bn if the disruption lasted a week.

Originally published as ASIO chief Mike Burgess reveals cost of foreign spies targeting Australians