[Security Classification: Official] UK Spy Agency GCHQ Is Now on Twitter

In an email sent to journalists this morning marked "STRICTLY EMBARGOED" and "SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:OFFICIAL" in all caps, GCHQ, the UK's signals intelligence agency, announced what it called "a big step for the organisation": It was going to send its first ever tweet.

"Around 11:15 this morning, GCHQ will be issuing its first ever tweet on its official Twitter account @GCHQ," the very serious statement from a GCHQ spokesperson explained.

Hello, world. https://t.co/SROtSsE8KB
— GCHQ (@GCHQ) May 16, 2016

The account's first tweet, "Hello, world," is, as many know, a phrase people often learn to produce when dabbling with a programming language for the first time.

"A simple start but one that will resonate with computer programmers around the world," the spokesperson continued.

GCHQ says its account will be tweeting about the agency's history, mission, languages, mathematics, cybersecurity, and more, as well as participating "in social media conversations."

"And yes, there will be puzzles!" the statement added.

Other intelligence agencies are pretty active on Twitter already. The CIA, for example, recently used its account to "live tweet" the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, to a mixed reception.

As for why the agency is taking this step, "We want GCHQ to be more accessible and to help the public understand more about our work," the spokesperson wrote.

In all seriousness, this is actually quite a remarkable step for an agency whose very existence used to be a secret. The launch of its Twitter account follows a recent trend towards relative increased visibility.

In recent months, GCHQ has run a high-profile recruiting campaign throughout East London, publicly intervened to prevent the roll-out of catastrophically insecure connected energy meters, and published more details of a criticsed encryption standard funded by the agency. The agency also told me that it has disclosed over 20 vulnerabilities to vendors so far this year, including ones in Apple products.

I've even noticed the GCHQ press office signing its emails with first names now (though I doubt they're real).

No news yet on whether @GCHQ will follow @Snowden.