Using OSINT to Protect Your Business: Advanced Tools and Techniques
The Globe and Mail has a interesting article about the Business Council of Canada requesting assistance from Ottawa in beefing up security to protect Canadian businesses from malicious foreign actors in Russia, China, and Iran:
[The Business Council of Canada] says Canadian companies face a series of threats “that erode Canada’s economic competitiveness by tilting the playing field to other’s advantage,” including “malign foreign interference,” espionage, cyberattacks, “co-opted academic research,” and punitive trade actions that are “weaponized” by foreign states.
“Canadian companies are in the crosshairs of state-sponsored actors seeking to advance their interests in a way that undermine Canada’s national and economic security,” the Business Council said in a statement accompanying a new report being released Thursday. The report notes the government of Canada regularly identifies the disruptive activities of countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as posing the greatest strategic threats to this country’s security.
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It estimated the cost of espionage to Canadian businesses is likely tens of billions of dollars annually.
Threats to a business from organised entities like state sponsored hackers can be an existential threat to a business. Part of the allure of OSINT is picking up on chatter before attacks are launched so you can anticipate and mitigate potential issues.
Additionally, being able to scan in real-time the digital landscape for announcements of vulnerabilities let’s you know if you’ve accidentally left the garage door open, so to speak, before the break in is about to occur. This is just one of the offerings that IntelEdge offers by our real-time threat monitoring and early warning detection systems.
And, in worst case scenario, if you’ve already been victimised by an attacker, being about to survey the dark web where information about what data was stolen is often posted gives you a heads up about what might be missing and requires damage control.
This is the new reality of dealing business in a globally connected world, where anyone with a computer and internet connection is possibly at the front door of your company. Whether they have a crowbar or a sale is another question entirely.
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