Much of the future of espionage, according to Jeremy Fleming, head of the UK spy agency GCHQ, lies in artificial intelligence. In a world in which most people live within reach of a mobile phone signal and many objects are connected through the internet of things, the wealth of information available to analysts who can access the digital world is impressive.
This, sadly, will do more than sound a death knell for James Bond and his gadgetry. There will be little use for an invisible car or a dart gun attached to your wrist when secrets can be more easily extracted through the invisible agency of an algorithm.
It is also casting suspicion across the global trade and investment in technology, particularly with China. Much of global trade is digital and it is often as unclear to governments as it is to consumers how the data collected from everyday devices is used by big tech companies and interested authorities.