Business counterintelligence : sustainable practice or passing fad?
Date
2009-03
Authors
Shear, Christopher James
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
Traditional information protection mechanisms are no longer adequately placed to effectively
deal with the adversarial threats that have arisen as a result of the rise in importance of
knowledge for today’s organisations. Business counterintelligence appears to be a protective
entity, which in principle can effectively engage with and mitigate many of these newly
manifested threats. Yet, business counterintelligence is also an entity that is accompanied by
a great deal of haze and confusion as to its use, implementation and integration within
different organisations. This is evident from the literature where there currently exist multiple
fragmented definitions of what business counterintelligence is. Organisations may as a result
adopt a particular business counterintelligence definition that may not be effective for their
context. This can result in the ineffective protection of critical information assets and the
misappropriation of organisational resources; something which is not sustainable.
This thesis proposes that in order to allay the confusion caused by these differing fragmented
definitions, one needs to be able to arrive at a consolidated definition of what constitutes
business counterintelligence; this thesis’s primary objective. This has been examined by
firstly contextualising business counterintelligence in order to better understand the topic; the
information society was used as a backdrop for this purpose. Secondly, an examination of the
prevailing views of business counterintelligence and its role within organisations is offered in
order to build clarity. Thirdly, a consolidated definition of business counterintelligence is
proposed and its implications for different organisations examined. Finally, the implications
of this consolidated definition for the sustainability of business counterintelligence are
discussed and conclusions based on the evidence presented within the thesis drawn. Based on
the arguments presented, this thesis postulates that a consolidated definition of business
counterintelligence is more effective and is thus more sustainable.
Description
Thesis (MA (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
Keywords
Risk management, Dissertations -- Information science, Theses -- Information science, Business intelligence, Industries -- Security measures