A screen capture shows an archived copy of the cloned website from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Internet archive via MLI
A prominent Canadian think tank says it has been warned by security agencies that its website had been cloned as part of an apparent intelligence-gathering operation.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) said it was warned in early June by Canadian security and law enforcement officials that an “organization linked to a hostile foreign intelligence service” had copied its website and created a similar version under a slightly different web address.
“They mirrored our very large site essentially in its entirety,” MLI said in a July 14 release.
The MLI’s authentic website address is macdonaldlaurier.ca, whereas the now deactivated spoof website used the address macdonallaurier.com.
The institute said it has “every reason to believe” the cloning of its website by the unspecified organization was a ruse to recruit Canadians into providing sensitive and classified information by offering research contracts seemingly on behalf of MLI.
The organization involved has not been named, and neither has the foreign state actor.
The Epoch Times sought additional details from MLI, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). None had responded by publication time.
MLI said it believes the cloning of its website is linked to warnings issued by spy services from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance in recent weeks.
CSIS and its counterparts in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a joint bulletin titled “Safeguarding Our Secrets” in early June. It warns about Chinese military intelligence services using professional networking sites and online job platforms to target government and military personnel from Five Eyes countries.
“Chinese intelligence officers pose as online HR recruiters or consultants who represent fake, but often legitimate looking, ‘cover companies’ and claim to be located in countries other than China,” says the bulletin. The Chinese regime is hoping to acquire information from this modus operandi to obtain a “strategic and tactical advantage over the Five Eyes.”
Along with security clearance holders, the joint bulletin says individuals with indirect access to government information can also be targeted, such as think tank employees, academics, and anyone with links to sectors such as defence, policy, and the economy.
China has rejected the accusations, calling them “entirely fabricated.”
While the Five Eyes bulletin only mentions Chinese military intelligence, CSIS’s most recent annual report says Chinese civilian spy services are also using job marketing sites to recruit Canadians with access to privileged information.
CSIS says this allows Beijing to engage with a “much larger” number of Canadians instead of pursuing specific targets. The Chinese spy services take “advantage of the financial difficulties and career ambitions that drive some applicants to apply to these job postings,” CSIS said.
MLI said it is no stranger to targeting by hostile states, with some of its fellows having been sanctioned by foreign regimes. “We’ve been formally sanctioned by the Kremlin and blacklisted by Beijing,” MLI said.
“We’re on the radar of Canada’s enemies because we stand up to their abuses and attempts to undermine our democracy,” the institute said.
MLI is warning the public about receiving unsolicited communications allegedly coming from the institute.