A new form of intelligence work in the era of big data - Internet Open Source Intelligence (2)

Jack Davis, a senior intelligence analysis expert of the Central Intelligence Agency, once clearly affirmed the importance of intelligence analysts, and proposed that 90% of US national security analysis is done by intelligence analysts. Steele, an American open source intelligence expert, has also put forward his own views on the process and working mode of open source intelligence. He believes that the most important skill of analysts in this mode is to "know who has the situation", and to be able to provide timely professional information to intelligence users who ask important questions. sources of intelligence from which qualified new knowledge is produced and quality-controlled by analysts. Passing ordinary information materials to ordinary users does not have much value. Only by analyzing and adding value on the basis of sufficient information materials, facing the problems that need to be solved, obtaining clear judgments, and forming reports that can be used for decision-making actions is Intelligence work was formed.

On the one hand, information retrieval cannot represent intelligence production in the current environment. "Intelligence" is not the information material itself, "intelligence" products are formed by analyzing and adding value on the basis of information materials, and highly rely on the personal intelligence of intelligence workers. Intelligence is not "found" directly, but "discovered" through analysis. Intelligent technologies such as big data crawlers, statistical analysis, and visualization can only play an auxiliary role in intelligence work, but cannot completely replace intelligence personnel. If the general information retrieval method fails to obtain intelligence from public information sources, and doubt the value of open source intelligence, it is a misunderstanding in understanding. On the other hand, unlike traditional intelligence personnel, open source network intelligence analysts must be compound talents that adapt to the development of the new era. They must not only master the intelligence collection and analysis capabilities required by traditional intelligence work, but also need to master certain new technologies. With multiple languages and skills, it can work across regions and with multiple people.

Limitations of Open Source Cyber Intelligence Efforts

In the development of actual work, open source network intelligence work also has certain limitations and faces some difficult problems.

1. There is a lot of false information on the Internet.

Almost any information can be released through news, blogs, and social media sites, and many people regard news as a reliable source of information and believe that the veracity of news information can not be questioned. But "fake news" incidents emerge in endlessly, such as fake news about German refugees, fake news about ethnic conflicts in France, and fake news about South Korean politicians. According to research conducted by economics professors from Stanford University and New York University cited by the American Observer website, among the more than 700 news websites surveyed, fake news websites accounted for 64. Various sources of intelligence are numerous and complex, and additions, deletions, and modifications may occur in the links of provision, processing, release, and transmission, making it deviate from the original appearance. Especially in the era of mobile Internet, it is even more difficult to distinguish true and false information. At the same time, people may be affected by prejudice when distinguishing the authenticity of information. Therefore, in the face of massive amounts of information on the Internet, open source network intelligence analysts must be skeptical, objective, and fair to verify the information, analyze the authenticity of the information from different standpoints, and verify and restore the truth of the information from multiple data sources.

2. It is the problem of information overload.

According to statistics, in the global information system, the proportion of information waste is no less than 50%, and some disciplines even account for 80%. People have to spend a lot of time and energy to find the right information from massive amounts of information, so the cost of obtaining information is getting higher and higher. In addition, people are easily attracted by different texts, sounds or images, and other social media, and turn their attention to other things, get lost in the massive amount of information, and their focus and persistence on work have dropped significantly. Faced with the problem of information overload, analysts should follow the open source intelligence workflow in actual work. Analysts should follow the working cycle of clarifying mission requirements, doing mission planning and deployment, collecting data according to mission planning, using open source tools to process and analyze data, and reporting and summarizing, so as to avoid getting lost in massive data.

In general, open source network intelligence is widely applicable in various fields such as security and business. Countries around the world have begun to attach importance to the research and application of open source network intelligence. Establishing a stable, independent national open source intelligence agency is critical to open source intelligence work and research. A stable institution is conducive to absorbing open source intelligence practitioners and researchers from all sides, and an independent institution is conducive to avoiding the influence of the secrecy system of covert source intelligence agencies.