- Secure dark web portal launched by MI6 offers new contact route for potential informants
- Agency hopes Silent Courier will attract Russian sources and others with secrets
- MI6 provides Tor and VPN guidance to help informants protect their identities
British intelligence agency MI6 has launched a new dark web portal designed to help it make secure contact with potential informants in Russia and around the world.
The new Silent Courier platform is designed to allow individuals with sensitive information to send messages to the agency without exposing their identity.
Outgoing MI6 chief Richard Moore is expected to confirm the launch during a speech in Istanbul. “Today we’re asking those with sensitive information on global instability, international terrorism or hostile state intelligence activity to contact MI6 securely online,” Moore will say, according to a Foreign Office statement. “Our virtual door is open to you.”
Carefully reviewed
The spy agency has published multilingual guidance explaining how to use the system on its official YouTube channel, which you can watch below.
The steps, should you wish to follow them, include downloading the Tor browser, running a reliable VPN, and using a device not linked to your personal identity.
If this was the late 1990s or early 2000s, and a movie, that would probably involve setting up camp in an internet café.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the new approach is part of efforts to keep the UK one step ahead of adversaries, noting, “our world-class intelligence agencies are at the coalface of this challenge, working behind the scenes to keep British people safe.”
The move echoes a strategy adopted by the US Central Intelligence Agency, which has also tried to attract Russian agents online following a damaging breach in China that exposed its networks.
Silent Courier represents the first time MI6 has offered a dedicated platform on the dark web.
The agency stressed that all information sent through the system will be carefully reviewed.
Moore, who has been chief of MI6 for five years, is due to step down soon, and will be replaced by Blaise Metreweli, who will become the first woman to head the service.
For a service often closely associated with James Bond, the launch shows the way real-world modern espionage is increasingly shaped by technology rather than martinis and Aston Martins.
Via BBC
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