Nvidia's Jensen Huang affair puts honey traps in focus

A controversy over Nvidia chief Jensen Huang's affair with Alice Huang, a woman Washington accuses of working for Chinese intelligence, has renewed attention on the use of “honey traps” in espionage. Beijing denies the allegation.

Honey traps use attraction, intimacy or compromising material to gain secrets or leverage over people with access to sensitive information. Clement Renault, a researcher at France's Institute for Strategic Research, said the tactic has appeared in cases ranging from Cold War blackmail to long-running relationships cultivated by intelligence services.

Renault said Alice Huang held a senior role at Megaspeed, a Singaporean AI computing infrastructure company that did business with Nvidia. He said she was allegedly recruited by China's state security ministry and was placed to make contact with Jensen Huang.

The tactic can take many forms. Renault said some operations use trained agents, while others rely on sex workers, business executives or well-connected people who already move near a target. He said “potentially all intelligence services” can use compromise operations, though such missions can require a high level of personal commitment from agents.

The article cited earlier cases including French ambassador Maurice Dejean, British embassy employee John Vassal, Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu and East Germany's so-called “Romeo Spies”. French and British security agencies have also warned officials to be cautious when a new contact appears unusually intense or “too good to be true”.