China's military weaponizing LinkedIn, officials warn

U.S. officials are increasingly sounding the alarm about LinkedIn as a tool of foreign influence in American affairs.

Officials say the online professional networking platform owned by Microsoft poses a threat for foreign influence and intelligence collection efforts, particularly by China.

William R. Evanina, director of U.S. counterintelligence, singled out LinkedIn last week, saying the networking platform could be weaponized by the members of the Chinese military whom the U.S. indicted on charges of hacking credit reporting giant Equifax and stealing data of more than 145 million Americans in 2017.

“They have more than just your credit score; they have all of your data,” Mr. Evanina said. That includes Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information such as bank account numbers. He said the data can be used as leverage to target vulnerable Americans inside and outside of government who have access to sensitive information and who can be reached through LinkedIn.

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