Britain’s three main intelligence-gathering agencies are to host their data with a company that knows a thing or two about compiling exhaustive data: Amazon.com.
The Financial Times (FT) reports that GCHQ, the UK’s “code-breaking” centre, plus espionage agencies MI5 and MI6 are to use Amazon’s cloud-computing services to host classified material.
Although the American company is primarily known as an online retailer, its Amazon Web Services arm is one of the leaders in the cloud computing market, alongside Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
The FT speculated that the use of the American company’s services could ignite concerns over sovereignty, although it is expected that the data will be stored on UK soil (for what that’s worth in the modern age).
The deal is said to be worth between GBP500mln and GBP1bn for Amazon over the next decade.
