ANOTHER –INT ON THE HORIZON? CYBER-INTELLIGENCE IS THE NEW BLACK
ANOTHER –INT ON THE HORIZON? CYBER-INTELLIGENCE IS THE NEW BLACK

Summary/Abstract: The pernicious nature of threats stemming from, or perpetrated through, the cyberspace is prompting the European and national decision-makers to adopt intelligence-led approaches for countering these threats. It pushes them to develop and employ targeted solutions to craft “cyber-intelligence” (cyber-INT) i.e. actionable knowledge of threat actors’ intents and capabilities, as well as the vulnerabilities-opportunities they want to exploit. Similar to other cyber-related notions, there is no crystallised definition of “cyber-intelligence” (as a product and/or process) among both scholars and practitioners. Neither, it seems there are enough studies focusing on how it is crafted. In light of the above, the present paper tries to draw a clearer picture of this emerging practice by taking stock of the recently-promoted initiatives in the field and the existing analytical work on the topic. The paper starts by presenting the state of the art of cyber-intelligence programmes in the EU and in its Member States, and describes their recent developments. Then, it reviews the available scientific literature addressing cyber-intelligence. It discusses the notion of cyber-INT, examines how this intelligence is crafted through the lens of the (cyber) intelligence “cycle”, and looks at the required capabilities (human, organisational and technological) for producing this kind of actionable knowledge. It concludes by sketching the main practical implications regarding the adoption of cyber-intelligence-led approaches, solutions and cooperation mechanisms across Europe.

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