Sir Iain Lobban takes advisory role at oil company and Hakluyt on risk and cybersecurity after retiring from UK surveillance agency last year

A former head of GCHQ has become an adviser to Shell and an influential private intelligence company after retiring from the UK’s electronic eavesdropping agency late last year. Sir Iain Lobban’s consultancy with Shell and the holding company of Hakluyt & Co, a boutique corporate intelligence firm established by former MI6 spies, are among a series of private sector jobs the retired spook has taken up over the past year. Both roles are expected primarily to involve advising on risk and cybersecurity.

Lobban has also accepted advisory positions at companies including C5 Capital, a multimillion-dollar venture capital fund focused on cybersecurity, and Cambridge Security Initiative, an intelligence consultancy established by Sir Richard Dearlove, the head of MI6 between 1999 and 2004. According to its website, recent clients of CSi include UK and US government agencies.

The advisory committee on business appointments (Acoba), which reviews the jobs taken by former ministers and crown servants after they leave their posts, has approved each of the new roles on the condition that Lobban does not draw on privileged information available to him while in office, or advise on business dealings “relating directly to the work of GCHQ” for 12 months.

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Between April and September, the committee published details of Lobban’s appointments on its website. Rules explain that for two years after leaving office, a crown servant should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK government. There is no suggestion Lobban has breached any rules of the advisory committee.

Details of the latest appointments come after the Guardian reported this week that Sir John Scarlett, the head of MI6 from 2004 to 2009, and Lord Carlile, the government’s independent reviewer of national security policy in Northern Ireland, have each received £400,000 in dividends from a company they co-own.

On Monday, Carlile defended the security and intelligence agencies and their bulk surveillance powers. His intervention came ahead of the government’s publication on Wednesday of controversial draft legislation that permits mass surveillance activities by intelligence agencies and police.

Lobban, who was at the helm of GCHQ as it came under intense pressure following the publication of Edward Snowden’s revelations, defended bulk interception powers in July during a lecture he gave at King’s College London, where he is a visiting professor. “It is impossible to provide a defensive cybersecurity apparatus without operating first at the level of bulk, then to winnow out the chaff,” he said, echoing a widely criticised needle-in-a-haystack metaphor he used to describe GCHQ’s work to MPs in the wake of the Snowden affair.

In the lecture, Lobban attacked the media’s critical coverage of the intelligence services in recent years, admitting that he had found it “hard to take”. The former spy chief suggested that “as the level of intrusiveness of what we do increases”, intelligence agencies need to deal proactively with the press and better explain their capabilities and what they are used for.

A spokeswoman for Shell confirmed that Lobban has been contracted to advise the company’s board on cybersecurity issues. She said: “Sir Iain is a leading figure in this field, and Shell is just one of a number of companies he advises on such matters.” Earlier this year, Shell said it would roll out a cybersecurity programme amid rising threats from hackers to its infrastructure around the world.

From time to time, Shell has drawn on the services of Hakluyt, the Mayfair-based intelligence company. Separately from his work with Shell, Lobban will sit on the advisory board of Hakluyt’s holding company, the Holdingham Group, alongside senior business figures including the former chairmen of Rolls-Royce, GlaxoSmithKline and Unilever.

Lobban joins a succession of former spies and diplomats who have become associated with Hakluyt since it was formed nearly 20 years ago. It draws on a network of associates around the world who provide regional and local information, making the company popular among its blue-chip clients.

Hakluyt staff include numerous former senior government advisers, and in recent years the company has met and dined with top civil servants including the cabinet secretary, Jeremy Heywood, and David Cameron’s national security adviser, Kim Darroch, who stepped down in September. A spokesman for Hakluyt, which declined the Guardian’s request for an interview, said the company does not talk to the press.

Lobban declined to comment when approached by the Guardian. A spokesman said he had acted in accordance with the government’s rules, submitting all his applications for independent advice from Acoba and following that advice.

Earlier this year, Standard Chartered bank announced it had appointed Lobban as an adviser to its financial crime risk committee. Lobban is also advising the Australian government on a national cybersecurity review.