Here is an example of a nascent China spy hysteria in the US, or at least a rise in interest in Chinese espionage cases – whether online or not – following the Mandiant story in the New York Times.

The case of the Chinese citizen Sixing Liu who was put away for 5 years and 10 months for taking files about restricted US military technology to the US … “illustrates what the FBI calls a growing ‘insider threat’ that hasn’t drawn as much attention as Chinese cyber operations.”

“But U.S. authorities warned that this type of espionage can be just as damaging to national security and American business.”

Key quote from Washington Post article:

In the past four years, nearly 100 individual or corporate defendants have been charged by the Justice Department with stealing trade secrets or classified information for Chinese entities or exporting military or dual-use technology to China, according to court records. A number of other cases involving China remain under seal, according to the Justice Department.

Note that the US, as a culture, is prone to hysteria. Which means that once the lid is off, the issue could quickly take on a momentum of its own. Stay tuned…