Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Britain’s spy agencies have signed a deal where AWS will be hosting classified material to boost the use of data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) for espionage.
The Financial Times report added that the GCHQ agency had supported the procurement of a high-security cloud system, which would be used by its sister services, MI5 and MI6. Other government departments such as the ministry of defence during joint operations will also be using the system during joint operations.
AWS is the cloud service unit of Amazon and the AI espionage agreement was signed this year. All data will be held in Britain itself though.
When asked, GCHQ said that it will not be commenting on reports concerning its relationships with its suppliers. AWS declined to comment on the report.
Earlier this year, Britain’s cyber spies at the GCHQ eavesdropping agency announced that it had fully embraced artificial intelligence to identify patterns in massive volumes of global data in order to combat hostile disinformation and apprehend child abusers.
GCHQ has been using basic forms of AI such as translation technology for years but is now ramping up its usage in an effort to compete with hostile governments’ use of AI and also because of the data explosion that makes it effective.
Jeremy Fleming, Director of GCHQ had also earlier on Monday told a conference the number of ransomware attacks had doubled across the UK in 2021, compared to last year.
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