MI5 Hiring Industrial Espionage IT Support Staff

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?"

MI5 doing espionage

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm shocked, I tell you!

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[Hognoxious]

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

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[davester666]

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

Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

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....

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[Anonymous Coward]

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

This is nonsense

[u38cg]

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

Re: NOT nonsense. READ THE AD.

[RandCraw]

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 supp

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[Hognoxious]

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.

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[u38cg]

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.

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[AmiMoJo]

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.

Just forget intellectual property

[gmuslera]

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

Really really NOT what the ad says

[Bruce66423]

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.

Another gold-medal contender

[Two99Point80]

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

MI5 is not MI6

[auric_dude]

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 [cesg.gov.uk] with the aim of keeping UK business and IP safe from prying eyes.

Submission -1: Idiot Poster and Editor

[CountBrass]

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

Do the right thing

[PopeRatzo]

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.

Seriously, Slashdot?

[sirwired]

"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.

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[AHuxley]

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 [wikipedia.org] ie the UK could alter the IRA

I misread M5 for MI5...

[zorak_94945]

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

"brightest minds"?

[tom arnall]

"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

MI5 is Domestic

[bWareiWare.co.uk]

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