Competitive intelligence in the context of the escalation of modern cyber threats

Abstract

The trends in the spread of cybercrime in the world, which is a threat to the information security
of our state and the security of competitive intelligence in particular, have been analyzed.
It was found that thanks to cyber attacks by individual states on the information space of others, they are trying to achieve certain political goals in their favor: to change legitimate governments in other countries; to have a destructive effect on the economic, energy, and military potential of these countries, as well as on their spiritual state; to take entire peoples and countries under dictatorial control, and possibly to enslave them without the use of military force in the classical sense.
A striking example of such a targeted cyber attack is the attack by Russian hackers on the Viasat satellite Internet service, which took place on February 24, 2022, an hour before the full-scale invasion of Russian troops into the territory of Ukraine. This attack led to the destruction of most of the satellite terminals, which negatively affected the communication between the military leadership of the state and units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The place and role of cyber security in the national security system of Ukraine and its state structures is highlighted. The state of security systems against cybernetic attacks in the leading countries of the world, in particular the United States of America, Great Britain and Australia, is considered. The reaction of the leadership of the specified countries to modern cyber threats has been determined. Given the spread of cybercrime in the world, one of the priority directions for improving the current cyber security system in these countries is reforming national counterintelligence agencies. It was established that the main goal of this reform is to reorganize the existing information and analytical units and create new ones capable of adequately counteracting the specified threats.
Separate proposals have been prepared for the subjects of competitive intelligence regarding possible options for organizing countermeasures against modern cyber threats, taking into account the peculiarities of reforming foreign special services.