Weakening encryption would damage the UK's wider interests says former MI5 chief

Weakening encryption would open the country up to more threats, says Jonathan Evans

Encryption is "very positive" in the context of the UK's commercial and national security interests and it would be a mistake to weaken it, according to Jonathan Evans, who was head of MI5 until 2013.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Evans acknowledged that the increasing use of encryption had made the job of the police and authorities more difficult, but he suggested that calls for it to be weakened, such as those made repeatedly by home secretary Amber Rudd, are misguided.

"The widespread use of encryption has reduced the ability of the agencies and the police to access the content of materials," he said, arguing that the "erosion" of their surveillance capabilities needs to be seen in a wider context.

"I'm not personally one of those who believes we should weaken encryption because I think there is a parallel issue which is cyber security more broadly, and whilst understandably there is a very acute concern about counterterrorism it's not the only national security threat that we face."

Evans described the current wave of Islamist terrorism as a "generational problem" that is likely to be with us for another 20 years, one that that goes much wider and deeper than the perpetrators' communication channels. And while terrorism is a serious threat, it is not the only one. Organised crime and state-backed actors also need to be considered. Evans commented on the growth of state-backed activities in cyberspace, singling out Russia's alleged interference in the US and French elections.

"It would be extremely surprising if the Russians were interested in interfering in America and in France and in various other European countries but were not interested in interfering with the UK, because traditionally I think we have been seen as quite hawkish and therefore I would be surprised if there had not been attempts to interfere with our election."

Weakening encryption would not only make the job of criminals and states like Russia easier, but in a future that's increasingly defined by connectivity above all else it would risk damaging the UK's broader interests, Evans said.

"We need to think very carefully about our dependence on the internet and in particular on the Internet of Things. With our vehicles and our transport and our critical infrastructure resting increasingly on the internet we need to be really confident that we have secured that, because our economic and our daily lives are going to be dependent on the security that we can put into our infrastructure to protect it from cyber attack," he said.

"I think that the way that cyberspace is being used by criminals and by governments is a threat to the UK's interests are widely and it's very important that we should be seen and the country in which people can operate securely. I that's very important for our commercial interests as well as our national security interests so encryption and that context is very positive."