With every passing day and every successful cyberattack, the importance of near-real-time cyber intelligence becomes more evident.
This is not just within the military and intelligence communities; it has grown dramatically in the private sector as well. For example, well known management consulting firm Deloitte recently announced that it was opening a Cyber Intelligence Center in The Hague. This is a growing part of the private sector's response to cyber threats and the overall cybersecurity market that is estimated to top $200 billion USD by 2021.
Cyber intelligence has become a core component of current cybersecurity strategies for many organizations. There are some indications that the private sector is actually sharing their cyber threat intelligence with each other. However, sharing cyber threat intelligence between military intelligence organizations and private businesses is not as simple as one might think.
Many of the organizations that have found themselves on the front lines guarding against and responding to cyberattacks do not have people with security clearances on staff. In addition, the act of sharing the cyber threat intelligence gathered by the military and intelligence organizations can put sources and methods of gathering that intelligence at risk.
When the private sector begins gathering their own intelligence, this places new demands on the limited number of skilled cyber resources that are currently available. In addition, companies become an attractive career choice for those who are already in the services of our military, intelligence and other government organizations.
Just recently the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was taking steps to improve and shorten the hiring processfor cybersecurity resources. This will help DHS compete for these scarce resources. Pause for a moment and consider the length of time from when a cybersecurity resource is recruited by the military and when they take their first assignment. That should be shortened to more advantageously compete with the private sector.
The big challenge of attracting and retaining cyber resources for the military just got more difficult. That is impacting every aspect of military cyber intelligence and cybersecurity as well.
