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Competitive Intelligence Services: OSINT and Cyberintelligence

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competitive intelligence services

As introduced in previous episodes, the fictitious company SENS (an acronym for Training and Simulation Systems) saw an opportunity to enter the Security and Defence sector in Spain. 

To achieve this objective, SENS management has created a Competitive Intelligence Unit which, by applying specific techniques and methodology, will reduce uncertainty, facilitate decision-making and develop a competitive advantage. But what are the Competitive Intelligence Services based on?

In this article, we will explore the different Competitive Intelligence Services that our unit can provide in open source analysis and cyber intelligence.

Competitive Intelligence Services based on Open Source Analysis (OSINT)

Through open source analysis, Competitive Intelligence Services can be generated that can respond to the internal and external needs of the organisation. These analyses are essentially based on digital footprint research.

Internal Competitive Intelligence Services

Internally, the Competitive Intelligence Services are aimed at providing our company with information related to the image it projects in its environment, as well as Technology Watch in the sector:

  • Digital Brand Surveillance: service aimed at discovering and analysing the image projected by the company in its environment, influential actors in Social Networks and the forensic analysis of reputational crises. The aim of this service is to achieve coherence between what is sought and what is achieved.
  • Technology Watch: service aimed at monitoring and discovering new market lines or trends in the sector and the competition. This makes it possible to identify areas of opportunity for growth and the degree of alignment of the company and the competition with respect to the business.

External Competitive Intelligence Services

Competitive Intelligence Services at the external level are intended to respond to Intelligence Needs related to suppliers, partners and competitors:

  • Approval of suppliers: evaluation of the image, reputation and operational capacity of suppliers.
  • This Competitive Intelligence Service is aimed at knowing, as accurately as possible and prior to signing a contract, the reputational, legal and operational issues that are linked to our future supplier, anticipating possible risks that may be generated by the collaboration. The aim of this research is to determine whether our partner is the right one to facilitate the fulfilment of our strategic objectives, assessing its potential business volume, operational capacity and reputation.
  • Critical Supplier Surveillance: Competitive Intelligence Service in which a detailed investigation of our company's partners is carried out. It is comparable to Supplier Approval, except that the Surveillance is carried out continuously over time. The objective of such a service is to detect reputational and operational risks of suppliers and partners that may affect the company. With this, decisions to mitigate the impact can be anticipated and made more quickly.
  • Competitor Report: evaluation of our company's main competitors, investigating their operating environment and identifying strategies and trends. This Competitive Intelligence Service provides essential information for strategic decision-making to strengthen the competitiveness of our company.

Cyber Intelligence Services

Cyber Intelligence services are aimed at detecting, analysing and mitigating risks and threats to Information Security that may occur in cyberspace.

Cyber Intelligence brings preventive and reactive value to Competitive Intelligence Services, and can be considered an evolution of OSINT, as it includes an assessment of information also exposed in the Deep and Dark Web.

cyber security
  • Preventive Value: by proactively looking for cyber-attack trends and risks to assist in the early detection of threats and risks.
  • Reactive Value: with a forensic analysis of the threat once it has occurred, and providing an attribution of the threat. For this last point, the work of analysts, who contextualise the threat through other, non-technical evidence, is essential.

The following is a list of the Cyber Intelligence Services that SENS includes in its portfolio of Competitive Intelligence Services:

  • Digital Exposure Assessment: research that adds more depth to the Digital Footprint study of a natural or legal person, including a risk assessment of the information exposed on the Deep and Dark Web.
  • Threat Hunting: continuous service for the proactive search for cyberthreats that may affect the company's operations and security in order to reduce detection time and optimise response models. It is also possible to monitor cyberthreats affecting the sector.
  • Event cyber-securitisation: service aimed at analysing the risks and cyber-threats that may occur before, during and after the holding of an event that may be considered critical for the company's operations. In this service, security protocols are applied to the most vulnerable attack vectors (infrastructure, security personnel, event attendees, etc.).
  • Cloud Ethical Hacking: the constant evolution of security threats to which organisations are exposed poses new risks linked to cloud computing. This service is aimed at detecting vulnerabilities associated with cloud environments. 

In the next and final episode, we will look at the main findings of Competitive Intelligence Services in meeting a company's strategic objectives.

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