Cookie Policy

How MI5 uses cookies to collect information about how you use our site.

Cookies

MI5 (mi5.gov.uk) puts small files (known as “cookies”) onto your computer to collect information about how you use our site. Cookies are used to:

• measure how you use the website so it can be updated and improved based on your needs
• remember the notifications you’ve seen so they are not shown to you again

MI5 does not use cookies to identify you personally. You should see a message appear on the site before we store a cookie on your computer.

Cookies that measure website performance

We use one optional cookie which measures website use. You can choose whether or not you are happy for us to use it.

MI5 (www.mi5.gov.uk) uses Google Analytics (GA) to collect data that we use to improve your experience of our website. We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements. Google Analytics stores information about:

• the pages users visit
• how long users spend on each web page
• how users got to the site
• what users click on whilst visiting the site

You will normally see a message appear on the site before we store a cookie on your computer. Find out more about how to manage cookies.

The GA cookies we use are listed below:

Strictly necessary cookies

For further information, please read Google's overview of privacy and safeguarding data and should you wish, you can opt-out of Google Analytics cookies.

Strictly necessary cookies are essential to providing an effective website experience and cannot be turned off.

These essential cookies do things such as remember the notifications you've seen so we do not show them to you again.

The websites strictly necessary cookies and their purpose are listed below:

Third-Party Cookies

First-party cookies are those that we set for www.mi5.gov.uk; third-party cookies are cookies that originate from different websites.

Apart from Google Analytics, the third-party cookies collected are by:

• ‘Vimeo’, which is used for streaming videos. You will receive a Vimeo cookie if you click to view one of our videos. 

• ‘Share this’ which is used for sharing page URLs on various social media sites and email. 

We do not control the setting of third-party cookies & if you require more information, you should check the policy on the third-party website.

Limitations and Amendments

This statement only covers the MI5 website at www.mi5.gov.uk. This statement does not cover third party websites to which we may link.

Any revisions to this statement will be published on this page. It is your responsibility to check this page periodically for any such changes.