Technology businesses brought in for spy gadgets

The security services have decided to widen the net for suppliers of state-of-the-art spyware for "covert surveillance".
Traditionally, the intelligence organisations have relied on a network of trusted contractors but the change in approach represents an opportunity for burgeoning technology companies.

“This is a fast moving environment and you always have to think ahead,” a senior Whitehall official told the Financial Times.

“The agencies are perfectly happy with the quality of the equipment they have. But for the first time, they are appealing to a wide range of innovators, small and large, and saying: ‘Here are some problems we encounter. Can you solve them?’”

GCHQ was said to be keen to improve its systems for monitoring information on the internet to trace suspects online.

“Sorting through the large amount of data to extract ... significant trends is a complex challenge,” the organisation said.

The agencies said they were looking for “groundbreaking, cutting-edge innovations to augment our existing capabilities”.

For more information
www.ft.com/news