Amazon鈥檚 cloud computing arm has reportedly secured a contract to host classified information for the 海角视频鈥檚 intelligence services as part of efforts to increase data analytics and artificial intelligence in espionage.
The that spy agency GCHQ and its sister services MI5 and MI6 had reached an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) estimated to be worth 拢500m to 拢1bn 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, MI5 and MI6 to conduct faster searches of one another鈥檚 databases.
GCHQ has previously spoken of the need to increase the use of cloud services within national security operations in order to keep the country safe from digital attacks.
The Cheltenham-based organisation鈥檚 director Jeremy Fleming told a conference on Monday (October 25) that British institutions had seen 鈥渢wice as many鈥 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 海角视频鈥檚 sovereignty if its top secret information 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.
鈥淚f this contract goes through, Amazon will be positioned as the go-to cloud provider for the world鈥檚 intelligence agencies. Amazon has to answer for itself which countries鈥 security services it would be prepared to work for.鈥
AWS told BusinessLive it would not be commenting on the reports, while GCHQ said it would also not comment on claims about its relationships with tech suppliers.
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