>the US citizen hid confidential files stolen from his employers in the binary code of a digital photograph of a sunset, which Mr Zheng then mailed to himself

That reads like something out of a spy novel. You'd think from xkcd that nobody actually uses advanced cryptography in real life, but here we are.

On a related note, China is amping up its recruiting efforts in Canada too. I had the good sense to stay as far away as possible from the very sad people who act as CCP mouthpieces, but when you see it in the real world...

You know the old saying that it's a recession when your neighbor loses their job? I don't know what the equivalent is for espionage, but this has just gotten real.