Amazon to host classified material for MI5, MI6 and GCHQ

The UK's spy agencies have reportedly given a contract to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host classified material in a deal aimed at boosting the use of data analytics and artificial intelligence for espionage. The Financial Times reported that the UK's signals agency GCHQ 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, would also use the system during joint operations, it was claimed. The agreement was signed this year with AWS, Amazon.com's Any contract with Amazon is likely to ignite concerns over sovereignty because the UK's most secret data will be hosted by a single US tech company.