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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial |
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ARTICLE VIEW: |
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Silent Courier: UK intelligence service MI6 launches dark web portal to |
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recruit foreign spies |
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By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN |
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Updated: |
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5:57 AM EDT, Fri September 19, 2025 |
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Source: CNN |
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Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, is launching a new |
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online portal called Silent Courier, aimed at using the dark web to |
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entice potential spies to send it secrets, particularly. |
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The service will rely on the Tor internet browser, which will allow |
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anonymous access to a secure MI6 messaging platform. Instructions for |
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using Silent Courier was given on MI6’s new on Friday morning. |
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UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK was “bolstering their |
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efforts with cutting-edge tech so MI6 can recruit new spies for the UK |
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– in Russia and around the world.” |
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The service will require users to take significant precautions of their |
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own to safely use it. A press release announcing the launch from the UK |
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Foreign Office, which handles MI6’s communications, said: “MI6 |
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advises individuals accessing its portal to use trustworthy VPNs and |
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devices not linked to themselves, to mitigate risks which exist in some |
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countries.” |
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The launch comes after the outgoing chief of MI6, Richard Moore, used a |
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rare public speech in Prague in July 2023 to spy for the UK. In the |
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same year, the CIA launched a similar online mechanism to Silent |
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Courier, also on the Tor network, also appealing for potential spies to |
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pass them secret information. Moore used his valedictory speech – |
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delivered Friday in Istanbul where he served as ambassador – to |
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launch the new service. “Our virtual door is open to you,” he said. |
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While the precise technology behind Silent Courier is unclear, |
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sis.gov.uk, MI6’s website, does similarly encourage potential |
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informants to use Tor and a VPN to contact them, and provides an online |
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form to fill in. It tells users to create a new email address they can |
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reply to. “Do not use a name, phone number or other data linked to |
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your real identity when creating this account,” it adds. |
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Friday’s launch is accompanied by a slickly produced video harking |
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back to the image of MI6’s espionage most closely associated with the |
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fictional spy James Bond – walks in the deep forest, and lone agents |
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driving an SUV in the desert. The video shows a mock-up of the Silent |
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Courier service on a smartphone, with the phrase “transfer |
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information” written in Russian, as a file apparently uploads. |
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Moore is leaving as “C” after five years in the job, and will be |
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succeeded next month by Blaise Metreweli, the first woman to hold the |
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role. Metreweli was formerly “Q,” the director in MI6 responsible |
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for innovation and technology, and had previously worked in the Middle |
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East and Europe. |
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