New MI5 Code Cracking Unit

[William Knowles <erehwon () C4I ORG>]

Forwarded by: Anonymous <nobody () shinobi alias net>

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/06/12/timnwsnws01015.html

The Times [London], Monday, 12 June 2000

New MI5 Unit to Crack Criminal Computer Codes
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor

A special codebreaking organisation is to be set up inside the
headquarters of MI5 to crack encrypted communications and computer
discs belonging to suspected organised criminals and terrorists.

The new centre, which will begin to recruit expert codebreakers soon,
will cost about ?25 million over the next few years, and has already
been budgeted for by the Home Office.

It is one of the elements of the Government's Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Bill which is to begin the committee stage in the
House of Lords today.

Under the Bill's proposals, law enforcement agencies will be entitled
to request the code keys for encrypted e-mails and Internet networks
from the service providers if an individual or company refuses to hand
over a decrypted version of a message.

The new facility, to be accommodated inside Thames House, MI5's
headquarters near Lambeth Bridge, will be called the Government
Technical Assistance Centre.

A Home Office official said it would handle all the legally acquired
material and would be responsible for looking after the keys to coded
messages for the period of the criminal investigation.

However, in cases where it was not possible to obtain the keys to the
codes, the staff at the centre would be expected to try to break the
codes, the Home Office official said. "They will need to be talented
codebreakers," the official added.

The Bill has been introduced partly to take into account the huge
developments in communications technology which will increasingly
provide criminals and terrorists with secure methods of sending
messages. Most e-mails are not coded at present but new technology
will make it easier to hide messages with complex encryption
techniques.

The Bill also embraces previous interception and surveillance
legislation to ensure that all such powers are in line with the Human
Rights Act which comes into force in October.

The Government has been accused of introducing a "Big Brother" Bill to
give the police and other agencies unlimited powers to monitor e-mails
and other forms of encrypted communications, and to increase intrusive
surveillance.

Although this has been denied by ministers, the House of Lords is
expected to call for amendments to the Bill to ensure that privacy
rights both for individuals and for the growing e-commerce industry
are not compromised.

The Government Technical Assistance Centre will be run by the National
Criminal Intelligence Service but will operate from inside Thames
House because of its high security.

The recruited experts will have to be given the highest level of
security clearance.

Under the Bill, MI5 will also for the first time be subject to
statutory controls when applying for warrants to eavesdrop on private
conversations and for running agents because of the perceived risk
that such covert methods of surveillance might breach the Human Rights
Act, which will incorporate into British law the European Convention
on Human Rights.

Although MI5 is obliged to seek a warrant for covert intrusive
investigative techniques under existing procedures, these methods are
not covered by any statutory control.

If the Bill is given Royal Assent by October, MI5's "watcher" branch
which follows suspected terrorists, spies and others posing a threat
to national security will have to function within the terms of the new
legislation, ensuring that during surveillance missions its operatives
do nothing that might lead to a challenge under the Human Rights Act.

A judge is to be appointed to the new post of Covert Investigations
Commissioner to provide oversight of all such operations.

The new regulations will cover not only the police, National Crime
Squad, the security and intelligence services and Customs & Excise,
but also a whole range of agencies and Government departments.

Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd.

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