Britain’s MI6 to Use Dark Web to Find New Recruits

Britain’s MI6 has announced a move to use the dark web to recruit informants and allow them to receive secret information from agents around the world, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) announced on Friday.

The Secret Intelligence Service—Britain’s equivalent to the CIA—known in common parlance as MI6, has launched a dark web portal named “Silent Courier,” which will allow users to securely pass on information and offer their services to the service from any corner of the globe.

“Today we’re asking those with sensitive information on global instability, international terrorism, or hostile state intelligence activity to contact MI6 securely online,” MI6 chief Richard Moore said in a post on X.

“Our virtual door is open to you.”

“For over a hundred years, the bedrock of MI6’s work has been face to face,” the agency said in a video promoting the portal posted on its official YouTube page.

“Now we can make those connections even more securely online, using our updated dark web portal Silent Courier.

“So if you have access to sensitive information relating to global instability or hostile intelligence activity, you can now contact MI6 and share this securely using Silent Courier.”

Further videos providing instructions on how to access and use the portal were also posted on the channel, in a host of languages including English, Arabic, and Russian.

Those videos instruct potential informants to use the dark web browser TOR (The Onion Router) or a virtual private network (VPN) to access the portal.

It also tells those who might get in touch not to use their home or work devices to contact the agency, but rather to obtain a “clean device” with an internet connection that has no links to themselves or friends and family, and to delete any history of the interaction.

Additionally, it provides information on how to use TOR or a VPN, and requests “clean” contact details so they can reach informants after the information has been received and analyzed.

Secret Courier mirrors a similar program set up by the CIA, which has posted videos on YouTube in Russian and Chinese over the years urging people to contact the agency and instructing them on how to do so via TOR.

“National security is the first duty of any government and the bedrock of the prime minister’s Plan for Change,” said British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

“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 coalface 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.”

Moore also made a speech on Friday at the British Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where he spent several years as UK ambassador to the country, to announce the launch of Secret Courier. In the speech, he said that he saw “no evidence” that Russian President Vladimir Putin was interested in a negotiated peace in Ukraine.

He said that Putin had “bitten off more than he can chew” in launching the war and had underestimated his Ukrainian opponents.

The news comes as Moore prepares to step down this month after five years in the role of chief, a position conventionally referred to only by the letter “C.”

He is set to be replaced by Blaise Metreweli, who will become the 18th person to hold the top job, and the first ever woman to do so.

The person holding the role of “C” is the only member of the service who is publicly named.

The Foreign Office did not respond to a request for additional comment from The Epoch Times.

Reuters contributed to this report.