Elon Musk reacted to a report claiming that Chinese and Russian spies are using romance to steal secrets from U.S. tech firms. He shared a screenshot of The Times (UK) headline, “Female spies are waging ‘sex warfare’ to steal Silicon Valley secrets,” and joked, “If she’s a 10, you’re an asset.”
Silicon Valley, home to companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook, has become a major target for these spies. The report says that China and Russia are sending attractive women to seduce or marry tech workers to gain access to private information.
James Mulvenon, chief intelligence officer at Pamir Consulting, said that women posing as spies tried to approach him to get U.S. tech details through romantic tricks.
Experts warn that China is also running startup contests in the U.S. to steal business ideas and harm America’s tech industry. A U.S. House committee earlier found more than 60 spying cases linked to China in the last four years.
Officials added that this “sex warfare” goes beyond flirting. Some spies even marry engineers and join crypto or defense circles to collect information for years.
