The Vanity Fair expose on likely Chinese hacking of many important corporations and government agencies by Michael Joseph Gross describes a ploy I’d only known from Hollywood movie: infiltrators intercepting calls to the victim’s security dept. in order to field these calls and prevent detection.
The scene prompted me to imagine a contemporary kind of international crime syndicate, wherein Chinese hackers are linked up with Mexican drug traffickers to insert in-the-flesh proxies in American companies via janitorial services.
On the one hand, it would probably be far more valuable to a foreign power to produce a “Manchurian CTO,” etc.. On the other, some people tend to really disregard the “hired help.” It’s easier for the butler (or maid) to have done it if he/she is considered “dumb” due to their foreignness.