One of Britain’s top cybersecurity specialists is quitting the intelligence services to join Amazon in a move that could reignite the controversy about the revolving door between Whitehall and the private sector.
Sky News has learnt that Ian Levy, who became technical director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in 2016, has been recruited by the technology behemoth in a senior executive role.
Details of Mr Levy’s new position were unclear on Thursday, but sources said his move was likely to be vetted by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), which scrutinises applications about new jobs for former ministers and senior civil and crown servants.
One insider said that Mr Levy’s new job would be at Amazon – which last week began making roughly 10,000 members of its workforce redundant – rather than Amazon Web Services, which provides cloud-hosting and other IT services to numerous government departments.
Nevertheless, Amazon itself was reported in May to have been awarded UK government contracts worth £425m during the previous two years, a figure that drew criticism because of the Seattle-based company’s questionable track record at paying corporate taxes.
One source familiar with ACOBA’s scrutiny said it was likely that Mr Levy would be prohibited from direct involvement in UK government-related contracts for a period of at least 12 months from the date he takes up his new post.
Prior to taking up his role at the NCSC, Mr Levy was technical director of cyber security and resilience at GCHQ.
He is highly regarded internationally for his work in the fast-evolving cybersecurity landscape, and is likely to have been handed a lucrative financial package to work for Amazon.
He announced his departure from the NCSC in a lengthy blog-post last month, but did not disclose his professional destination.
“I’ve met and worked with some of the most amazing people, including some of the brightest people on the planet, and learned an awful lot,” he wrote.
“I’ve got to give a special mention to everyone in the NCSC and wider GCHQ because they’re just awesome.
“And I’ve also had the pleasure of working with vendors, regulators, wider industry, academia, international partners and a whole bunch of others.”
Amazon and the NCSC both declined to comment.
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