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HRH The Princess Royal visits GCHQ Bude

Press release - 04 Apr 2016

The Princess Royal made history today as the first Royal to visit GCHQ Bude. Her Royal Highness met a large number of staff who are an integral part of GCHQ's mission to keep Britain safe.

With a request to meet as many staff as possible, The Princess Royal met apprentices, graduates and long term staff who have dedicated their careers to protect Britain from terrorists, cyber-attack, child sexual exploitation, and serious criminals.

Her Royal Highness also met members of GCHQ Bude's Charities Committee who put on events to raise funds for local charities.

Who we are

GCHQ is an intelligence and security organisation, working to keep Britain safe and secure in the challenging environment of modern communications.

What we do

UK citizens today conduct much of their lives over the internet, as do the Government, the Armed Services, Law Enforcement and industry.

For the UK to be safe and successful, the cyber connections and infrastructure we use need to be safe and secure. GCHQ plays a major role in making that a reality using our expertise and experience.

How we work

GCHQ strives to ensure that life in the UK isn't compromised through cyber attack or on-line serious crime, employing some of the world's leading experts on Information Security.

Everything we do is governed by law, and overseen by the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers.

Latest news

News

14 Mar 2016 - National Apprenticeship Week
Read about our Higher Apprenticeship Scheme and hear first-hand from our apprentices about their experiences in our podcasts.

01 Mar 2016 - Investigatory Powers Bill enters the next stage in the Parliamentary process
The revised Investigatory Powers Bill goes before Parliament today. Designed to bring disparate areas of legislation together, and ensure the Security and Intelligence Agencies can continue to operate effectively now and in the future, the Bill also strengthens the safeguards and oversight regimes that govern our work.

12 Feb 2016 - Foreign Secretary welcomes Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruling
The Tribunal has ruled that the legal regime under which GCHQ carries out Equipment Interference is and always has been fully compatible with human rights law.

04 Feb 2016 - Director GCHQ's Christmas card puzzle: How did you do?
View the complete answers to the Director's puzzle, with some explanations from the puzzle setters.

28 Jan 2016 - Is anyone close to cracking the Christmas Puzzle?
Director GCHQ, Robert Hannigan's Christmas puzzle is nearing its closing date of 31 January 2016, find out what the reaction has been and if the puzzle has been completed!

25 Jan 2016 - Bletchley Park veteran receives Commemorative Badge from British Ambassador
98 year old Leslie Greer is the latest recipient of the badge which marks the wartime work undertaken at Bletchley Park. Ms Greer, who now lives in Dublin, was a German linguist at Bletchley Park. Her badge was presented by HMA Dominick Chilcott.

Press Releases

10 Feb 2016 - CESG announces its first cyber security consultancy companies
CESG is pleased to announce the first group of companies to be certified under its new Certified Cyber Security Consultancy scheme. This is an approach to provide government and industry with expert advice.

18 Jan 2016 - Cyber Summer Schools applications open
GCHQ launches Cyber Summer Schools in Cheltenham, Scarborough, the Manchester area, and South West London.

GCHQ Director, Robert Hannigan. ©Bryce Vickmark

Director Robert Hannigan dispels some myths about encryption in MIT speech

News article - 07 Mar 2016

Director Robert Hannigan, speaking at MIT about encryption today, aims to introduce a more informed tone to the debate in the UK between government, academia, the technological industry and wider civil society so they can work together within a clear and transparent legal framework.

GCHQ’s long-running involvement in strengthening and improving encryption is also highlighted through the publication of two key papers from the 1970s written by the late James Ellis, a brilliant GCHQ mathematician.

Katherine Jenkins OBE thanks GCHQ for keeping Britain Safe

Press release - 25 Feb 2016

Director Robert Hannigan welcomed Katherine Jenkins OBE for the first concert to be held at GCHQ since the days of Bletchley Park.

The Welsh mezzo-soprano gave up her time to perform for staff as her way of saying thank you for all their hard work in protecting the country.

Our journey

History and the Cryptoy app

Cryptoy is a fun, free, educational app about cryptography, designed by GCHQ for use by secondary school students and their teachers.

The app enables users to understand basic encryption techniques, learn about their history and then have a go at creating their own encoded messages. These can then be shared with friends via social media or more traditional means and the recipients can use the app to try to decipher the messages.

Director GCHQ writes an opinion piece for the Financial Times

News article - 04 Nov 2014

In his first public statement, the new Director GCHQ Robert Hannigan discusses terrorist use of the Internet and how the security and intelligence agencies need greater support from technology companies to tackle this challenge.

Want to know more about GCHQ's work to protect the UK?

News article - 09 Jun 2015

Our Counter Terrorism and Serious Crime teams tackle some of the most difficult challenges facing the UK.

To show the work that we do in these areas, we have published accounts from our analysts and linguists talking about their jobs.