GCHQ has confirmed that it awards bonuses to IT security experts in a bid to stop staff leaving for large technology companies such as Google. A spokesperson said that reports of “tens of thousands of pounds” bonuses were “an exaggeration” A cyber security specialist can earn a salary of between 25,446 and 31,152 according to the jobs section of the GCHQ website. GCHQ would never be able to compete with high-tech companies on salary alone, the spy agency has admitted.”]