British Secret Agents No More Skilled Than An 'Average Hacker'
To any British kid who grew up watching James Bond, it might appear that Her Majesty’s Secret Service is clever enough to defeat any adversary. After the Snowden revelations, many people have changed their mind about whether spies are still the good guys, but it’s almost impossible to shake that English belief that the UK is home to the smartest of all spooks.
This week we were given the rare chance to see details of the tools British spies use to snoop on enemies, intercept digital communications, censor online content and even manipulate internet opinion polls. It all sounds terrifyingly Orwellian and certainly beyond the ken of most ordinary citizens. But the shadowy spy agencies might not be as bright as they appear, a leading security expert has suggested, relying on tools which are barely more powerful than those employed by neophyte hackers. So should we still be impressed by the skills of the secret services?
