MI6 has opened a dark web portal to recruit spies with global intelligence. Photo / Getty Images
MI6, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, has set up a portal on the dark web to recruit spies in the fight against Russia.
The messaging platform, called Silent Courier, will provide a secure connection to allow anyone to offer their services to the spy agency from anywhere in the world.
Using the anonymity of the dark web – a matrix of encrypted, hidden and often criminal websites only accessible via special browsers – Britain’s spies hope to recruit new global agents, with the priority being those with access to sensitive information in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
In his last public-facing speech as chief of MI6 before leaving his post on October 1, Sir Richard Moore will announce the new recruitment portal on Friday in Istanbul, where he previously served as UK ambassador.
Appealing to anyone with access to “sensitive information on global instability, international terrorism or hostile state intelligence activity”, Moore, the 17th head of Britain’s overseas spy agency, will say MI6’s “virtual door is open to you”.
MI6 is also suggesting Silent Courier can be used to debrief agents, with face-to-face encounters proving increasingly untenable as the surveillance powers of countries such as Russia and China get more sophisticated.
A slick video on MI6’s official YouTube site to accompany the launch starts by depicting one MI6 officer talking to their agent in a coffee shop, as another spy accompanies their British handler on a countryside walk.
A voice-over explains how, in recent years, meeting in person has become more dangerous and time-consuming.
The video ends with agents passing information to Silent Courier when alone on a dusty hillside or on a woodland drive.
The portal will be MI6’s first official presence on the dark web, although Britain’s three intelligence agencies – MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – are thought to have used the technology to track potential threats to the UK for years.
Richard will say the UK’s intelligence services are “critical to calibrating risk and informing decisions”.
Intelligence chiefs have long warned that spying has become harder and more costly as big data, AI and global surveillance capabilities multiply and the war in Ukraine continues to rage.
Following a speech in Paris last year when Richard said “we cherish our heritage of covert action, which we keep alive today in helping Ukraine resist the Russian invasion”, the budget for Britain’s spy agencies was given its biggest increase in almost a decade.
Instructions on how to access the Silent Courier portal will be publicly available on MI6’s verified YouTube channel.
Potential agents are advised to use trusted virtual private networks and devices not linked to themselves, as a precaution against security forces in their home country.
The MI6 portal builds on a similar approach taken by the CIA in 2023.
The US agency posted messages on its social media accounts in Mandarin, Farsi and Korean, with instructions on how to contact it securely.
The CIA has not provided details on the campaign, but Britain’s Daily Telegraph understands it was considered to be very successful.
In a statement at the time, the agency said: “This effort represents just one way in which [the] CIA is adapting to a new global environment of increased state repression and global surveillance.”
Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, said: “National security is the first duty of any government. As the world changes, and the threats we’re facing multiply, we must ensure the UK is always one step ahead of our adversaries.
“Our world-class intelligence agencies are at the coal face of this challenge, working behind the scenes to keep British people safe.
“Now we’re bolstering their efforts with cutting-edge tech so MI6 can recruit new spies for the UK – in Russia and around the world.”
Sir Richard hands over as chief of MI6 next month to Blaise Metreweli, a Cambridge graduate who was in the crew that beat Oxford in the 1997 women’s boat race.
Metreweli previously served in MI6 as “Q”, the head of the technology department, and in MI5 as director of K, where she focused on countering subversion.