Amazon-GCHQ ‘deal’ to host top-secret data

AMAZON’S cloud computing arm has reportedly secured a contract to host classified information for the UK’s intelligence services as part of efforts to increase data analytics and artificial intelligence in espionage.

The Financial Times reported that spy agency GCHQ and its sister services MI5 and MI6 had reached an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) estimated to be worth £500 million to £1 billion over the next decade, citing people close to the discussions.

According to the FT, other government departments could reportedly use the high-security cloud system as part of joint operations. It is understood the technology could allow agents to easily share information from field locations overseas and enable GCHQ, pictured left, MI5 and MI6 to conduct faster searches of one another’s databases.

The Cheltenham-based organisation’s director Jeremy Fleming told a conference on Monday that British institutions had seen “twice as many” ransomware attacks in the last year compared to the previous 12 months.

The reported Amazon contract has drawn concerns from some security experts about the UK’s sovereignty if its top-secret information is being held by a single US tech company.

Gus Hosein, the executive director of charity Privacy International, told the FT: “This is yet another worrying public-private partnership, agreed in secret. If this contract goes through, Amazon will be positioned as the go-to cloud provider for the world’s intelligence agencies. Amazon has to answer for itself which countries’ security services it would be prepared to work for.”