Wednesday 13 November 17:30 - 18:30

Imperial College London
Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Lecture Theatre G16, Imperial College Road
London
SW7 2BX

Tickets Unavailable
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COMPUTERS AND SPIES - The Rise of Technology and Death of Secrets

Science & Technology

Gordon Corera, BBC Security Correspondent presents the 10th Vincent Briscoe Security Lecture.

Speaker: Gordon Corera, BBC Security Correspondent will chart the intertwining history of technology and espionage over the last century. He will reveal how the twin stories have moved from the most classified heart of the national security state to the every-day world with implications for all of us. From Bletchley Park through the Cold War to Google and Huawei he will explore how data, encryption and computers have transformed what we think of as secret and look at what that means for both intelligence agencies and citizens around the world.

The Lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

About the Speaker

Gordon Corera is a journalist and writer on intelligence and security issues. Since 2004 he has been a Security Correspondent for BBC News where he covers terrorism, cyber security, the work of intelligence agencies and other national security issues for BBC TV, Radio and Online. He has reported from across the United States, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and presented a number of programmes focusing on intelligence agencies including MI6, MI5, GCHQ, the CIA, NSA and Mossad. He is the author of "Intercept - The Secret History of Computers and Spies", "MI6 - Life and Death in the British Secret Service" and "Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity and the Rise and Fall of the AQ Khan Network". He read History at Oxford University and was a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard Graduate School.

How to arrive

The Sir Alexander Fleming Building is on Imperial College Road. Please see pdf map here You can see it on Google Maps here.

About the Vincent Briscoe Security Lecture

The Vincent Briscoe Lecture is the annual lecture from the Institute for Security Science and Technology, Imperial College London, named in honour of Professor H.V.A. Briscoe (b.1888, d.1961). Vincent Briscoe was a distinguished inorganic chemist in the Department of Chemistry (1932 – 1954).

During his war work he explored the chemistry of thorium and the rare earths as well as working on a number of secret projects. In his book, Defence of the Realm, Professor Christopher Andrew credits Briscoe with providing the first independent scientific advice to MI5, in 1915, on the subject of secret German writing. Service records indicate Briscoe's continuing assistance throughout the inter-war years and during and after the Second World War.

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