Have you seen people who obtain information from people to tell certain parties? This act is known as espionage. Spies get confidential information. Understand that spies don’t have any permission when getting the information. Though it’s a dangerous act, it is one of the best ways to get information that is otherwise hard to get using diplomatic ways.

Espionage has existed for a long time, since the existence of society. Since it’s a wide scope, we will look at the historical modern spies starting from the 1960s onwards. The start of the 1960s was accompanied by great technological advancements. These advancements made an incredible change in the espionage field.

Most spy works are for the government and state agencies are responsible for such activities. In the USA for example, the FBI and CIA conduct spy tasks. However, there are independent individuals who government hire them if they don’t want to use agencies. But, modern espionage is mostly done by state agencies. The party involved in the spying depends on the nature of the task.

You can trace modern spies from the state of the Cold War. If you take the USA as an example, there are several USA spies in various countries such as Russia and China.

How Modern Spies Operate

The world is fast-changing and state agencies and institutes like spies are experiencing the same. Espionage operations are taking another dimension by the introduction of certain devices like computers. State spies are in two categories: agents and intelligence officers.

1. Agents

Agents are independent but they provide information to intelligence officers. They do their activities secretly. Though agents may not be professionals, they possess significant skills and operational prowess. Mostly they use their ideological and personal factors in their work.

2. Intelligence Officers

Governments mostly use intelligence officers to get information from individuals and other states. These officers work for intelligence agencies like the FBI and CIA. They possess quality espionage skills which help them to work in any condition.

They are free to disclose their identity, unlike agents. However, sometimes they work without identity disclosure. They cover deep and sometimes dangerous tasks.

Intelligence agencies recruit agents who gather information. The officers use different techniques as it’s the task. Modern agencies use the latest technology in their work like cellphones and eavesdrop.

3. Cyber Spying

Cyberspace is an essential feature of modern espionage. Spy agencies use the internet to get information from their targets. People use the internet daily and they leave a lot of important data on the internet. The most used platforms used in getting these data are social media.

The internet is incredibly helping spies and easing the operations than in the past.

Modern-Day Spies Target

Political and military data were the main target of traditional espionage. Tough they remain critical, the sector has widened and new targets are emerging. The world is now technology-driven making things better and state institutions increasing such as the introduction of the industrial sector.

Spies get the industrial secrets of their rivals and use them to their advantage. The information helps to make better innovations and inventions than others.

Though it’s a dangerous job to the agents, it is important as it helps to get confidential information. Modern spies use advanced methods that make the work easy.