The Challenge of Social Network Intelligence

Due to its rich content and strong real-time characteristics, social network intelligence provides convenience and opportunities for the development and reform of intelligence work in the new era. But at the same time, it also brings challenges to intelligence workers because of its large degree of freedom, quantity and variety. For example, the difficulty of analysis, the contradiction between intelligence collection and personal privacy, information leakage security and other risks.

1. Great analysis difficulty

First, the translation of foreign languages is not accurate enough. Although tools such as Google Translate can be used to give intelligence analysts a general understanding of the content of online social discussions, they cannot convey the nuances of word meaning between different languages.

Second, the variation of spelling and vocabulary across different media also presents great challenges. Especially in Twitter, misspellings, abbreviations make standard normalization techniques difficult.

Third, individuals or groups can create new identities on Twitter or other sites. According to the security settings, their identities and locations can be hidden, and they can freely express their opinions on any topic regardless of whether they are right or wrong, which brings difficulties to the analysis and identification of open source intelligence.

Fourth, there are challenges to cognition. Since online social networking is a platform that does not filter prejudice, misleading subjective wishes, etc., many people can observe events and express opinions through their own observation angles and personal prejudices. Intelligence analysts must make value judgments about this information based on their own experience, understanding, and knowledge.

Therefore, to fully ensure the accuracy of intelligence in the massive data of social networking, intelligence analysts are required to screen and identify every piece of intelligence collected, which puts forward higher conditions for the ability to analyze information.

2. Contradiction between intelligence gathering and privacy

On the one hand, with the increasing popularity and penetration of big data in social applications, social application data and users' personal privacy are being used or even abused in various ways. Due to the diversification of users, in addition to the content information of chatting and exchanging, online social networking also contains the daily behavior and data of users such as online location, time, hobbies, usage habits and personal needs. This private information may be used by intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies, and may also be used by criminals and terrorists if it is not managed properly.

On the other hand, the increasing number of personal data privacy protection laws and regulations, coupled with the enhancement of self-protection awareness of social users, make the process of intelligence acquisition more and more complicated, and it is more difficult to obtain valuable intelligence.

3. Information Security Risks

Nowadays, almost all online social platforms on the mobile Internet end have a positioning function, which not only reveals the location of confidential places, but also reveals relevant whereabouts information. Some users in military industry or secret-related positions inadvertently upload life photos on social platforms, which may contain important intelligence value and be used by spies, bringing losses and threats to national security. In terms of military combat, the enemy can not only use the social networking platform to spread rumors, confuse or deceive, but also obtain intelligence and track the location information of the target by concealing the real identity, Trojan virus attacks and other means to infiltrate the opponent. Online social platforms also provide an opportunity for counterintelligence capabilities to make social information insecure.