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MI5 Hiring Industrial Espionage IT Support Staff

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-could-be-the-james-bond-of-xss dept.

AmiMoJo writes "A recent job posting by MI5 seeks to recruit 'Data Exploitation Specialists.' The core of the role is described as 'provid[ing] tactical solutions and operational support to business users of information exploitation systems.' In other words, industrial espionage. This open admission comes at a time when the UK and its partners are accusing China of the same thing. Pot, meet kettle?"

22 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. MI5 doing espionage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm shocked, I tell you!

    1. Re:MI5 doing espionage by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I am. I thought it was MI7's job.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:MI5 doing espionage by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, isn't that the job of MI-6?

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    The submitter/editor is deriving a whole lot of meaning out of words that say absolutely nothing. I can't see anything here to suggest that there's anything more to this story than the submitter/editor seeing 'exploitation' as a scary word and reading into it from there.

    Nothing to see here... move along....

    1. Re:Really? by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Oh please! Haven't you read ANYTHING in the past 30+ years? ALL of the major powers are spying their asses off, on each other, on their own people, hell where do you think the Chinese got their stealth tech? They bought the wreck of the wobbly goblin that went down in Kosovo, had it boxed up and shipped, and the rumor is they also paid for access to the stealth drone Iran caught.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    2. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Spy agencies spy. But saying that this job posting is specifically related to industrial spying in any way is completely unsupported, which is the premise of the submission. For all you know, and for all the posting makes clear, this could be about exploiting data to learn about how civil servants supporting the agency are scheduled and paid as to eliminate inefficiency. Reading anything more specific is this is pure paranoia. Reading your worldview, fears, and politics into a document to give it a new meaning which just isn't there is not unlike the kind of thinking that leads to the 'truther' movement, climate related pontificating (either side), and other forms of stupid group-think.

      So I urge you to get a grip... after all you'll need it to pull your head out given how firmly it's planted.... and consider what is being said and what honest conclusions you can draw from it. While MI5 may very well engage in industrial espionage, this isn't the job posting you're looking for.

  3. This is nonsense by u38cg · · Score: 3, Informative

    Read the damned ad. They're looking for big data analysts, not hackers. The lead ad copy is just buzzword speak.

    --
    [FUCK BETA]
    1. Re:This is nonsense by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Yes, data analysts to help businesses make use of data gathered by/for MI5. The have a tap on internet backbones and access to ISP databases of metadata, and it appears they want to develop systems to let business users analyze it for commercial advantage.

      Why else would MI5 be involved? Developing business intelligence software for the commercial sector is not a normal part of their remit.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. Just forget intellectual property by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    When the countries that are behind international intellectual property laws are the main offenders the whole concept turns into a worldwide scam.

  5. Really really NOT what the ad says by Bruce66423 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A careful reading of the content of the ad makes it clear its about providing MI5 with the tools to exploit the data that it's collecting NOT making that data available to commercial groups. It's depressing that the poster misread it, and the editor didn't spike this submission; this is how a board like Slashdot gets known as conspiracy theorists.

  6. Another gold-medal contender by Two99Point80 · · Score: 1

    If only "Jumping to Conclusions" was an Olympic event!

  7. MI5 is not MI6 by auric_dude · · Score: 1

    This, if I am correct is domestic UK job spec as befits MI5, overseas work done by MI6. This may well be in conjunction with the likes of http://www.cesg.gov.uk/Pages/homepage.aspx with the aim of keeping UK business and IP safe from prying eyes.

  8. Submission -1: Idiot Poster and Editor by CountBrass · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yet another argument for being able to moderate the posts themselves: and the editors who post them.

    --
    Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
  9. Re: NOT nonsense. READ THE AD. by RandCraw · · Score: 2

    Soulskill may well be right. This is NOT your everyday intel analyst:

    "
    As part of a pioneering IT function, you will be a key participant in the design and delivery of a variety of strategic programmes and business critical initiatives within a dynamic, challenging workplace. ...

    The role

    You will provide tactical solutions and operational support to business users of information exploitation systems. You will create new data ingest processes, advise team members about their design and implementation and support data management processes within our organisation.
    "

    I've worked inside several US intel orgs, but I've never seen a spy role where you "support business users" to better exploit THEIR data.

    This *is* weird.

  10. Do the right thing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    I just hope there are a whole lot of whistleblowers in this crop.

    We really need a lot more people involved in these programs to start talking to journalists or posting documents on Wikileaks. Our window to do something about this government overreach and the total surveillance state is closing fast. But we still have a shot at stopping it if there are some people working for these agencies (and for corporate snoopers) who have courage and care about future generations.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  11. Re: NOT nonsense. READ THE AD. by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Because it has the word "business" in it, twice, right?

    Wrong.

    You're obviously too young to remember the fad of using "customers" to mean anyone you talked to or even looked at, and not people who buy stuff from you.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  12. Re: NOT nonsense. READ THE AD. by u38cg · · Score: 1

    It's not wierd at all. The big deal in spookland these days is making sense of the data they have, not getting more of it. I'd guess the US have a hell of an edge in this regard and the UK is playing catchup.

    --
    [FUCK BETA]
  13. Seriously, Slashdot? by sirwired · · Score: 1

    "provid[ing] tactical solutions and operational support to business users of information exploitation systems" does not mean "Industrial Espionage".

    This is an ad for Data Mining staff, nothing more. The ad doesn't say anything about where the information comes from, what it's for, or what it is. "Business users" refers to non-IT staff, not people outside government being given access to privileged information. Even in government, they use the same terms as private-sector IT to refer to end-users (a.k.a. "business users") vs. IT.

    I'm not saying MI5 isn't doing anything evil, but I AM saying this ad doesn't give you any new information one way or another.

    Paraphrasing another poster: I see a new customer for the "Jumping to Conclusions Mat" from Office Space!

    1. Re:Seriously, Slashdot? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Work out who uses ORACLE, ESRI, SQL, Java or .net in the UK and products are still export worthy... operational support may not just be data mining to find the friends of friends of friends who went back to the family's country of origin.
      Past MI5 thoughts: Long term NATO disinformation files given to the Soviets after the Francois Roussilhe (via library of NATO headquarters) case in the 1960's. Was blocked by the CIA as too complex.
      Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeknife ie the UK could alter the IRA's Internal Security Unit files.
      Industrial espionage could just be cover for slight data alternation, if your spying on a UK brand the data you steal is junk or trackable or long term private sector staff are turned to informants.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  14. I misread M5 for MI5... by zorak_94945 · · Score: 1

    ... and wondered WTF Mythbusters wanted with Data Exploitation Specialists.

  15. "brightest minds"? by tom+arnall · · Score: 1

    "At MI5 you'll sharpen your skills working with the latest technologies and brightest minds." "Brightest minds"? Pathetic wretches. No one with a single strand of moral fiber will work for the spooks, anywhere. And a technician without moral fiber is a hireling and devoid of sustainable creativity. The brightest minds are those who work because they love it. Who but the brain-dead wd work for the most disgusting people in human history and love it? Excepted of course are those who work inside the system to wreck it ;o)

  16. MI5 is Domestic by bWareiWare.co.uk · · Score: 1

    Apart from the reading fail of the submitter/editor. MI5 is the domestic agency; they spy on us, not on foreign businesses.