Many of you will remember December 2010, when a Tunisian produce vendor set himself on fire and sparked what became known as the Arab Spring. The name stemmed from the ‘People’s Spring’ and ‘Prague Spring’ that described movements towards democracy, rather than the time of year per se. The success of the Arab uprising is often put down to…
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Mainstream media and social channels are awash with conversations and disagreements about misinformation and disinformation and what they are. The pandemic and Trump’s presidency have added considerable fuel to these debates. Definitions of disinformation and misinformation are easy to find. The important distinction between the two is the intent that sits behind them. Misinformation is the sharing or publishing…
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By Mario Bekes During the Covid19 crisis, the typical workplace is no longer a company office, protected by technical, mechanical and physical security with access controls and an IT/cyber security manager physically sitting next to employees. In contrast, the workplace has become the kitchen table or spare room, with many of IT devices also being used by household family…
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By Mario Bekes Economic and industrial espionage come from a different base, but their activities are similar. (Button, 2020) in his article quoted definitions from Wagner’ (Wagner, E.R., 2011) to explain and distinguish the differences between economic and industrial espionage: • “Economic espionage refers to targeting or acquiring trade secrets from domestic companies or government entities to knowingly benefit…
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“The life of spies is to know, not to be known” George Herbert A stolen recipe in ancient Greece led to one of the first cases of industrial espionage. This, and other historical precedents, are discussed in relation to contemporary industrial espionage by (Tarantola, A , 2020) who analysed the events that took place in the ancient Greek…
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Organisations need to act now and prepare for the growing prevalence of economic espionage in Australia and the damage it causes. To understand what we mean by economic espionage, the FBI (2021) describe it as, “foreign power-sponsored or coordinated intelligence activity” while ASIO (2021) define it as, “Espionage is the theft of Australian information by someone either acting on behalf…
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We know advertisers and politicians try to persuade us to believe a certain viewpoint. The power of communication as a type of warfare is often undervalued. Influencing your ‘enemy’ is a key part of winning any battle. Being able to analyse misinformation has become a critical skill for armies, businesses and citizens alike. You may remember that prior to the…
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We can argue and discuss how life, business and social interactions were in the Pre-COVID world, however, none of this changes the fact that the world we know is over and we need to refocus our activity on positive things. To enable us to continue to go about our daily lives and enjoy family, health and business, we now have…
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Corporations strive to be successful in their chosen markets. Trying to win the hearts and minds of consumers is a relentless, on-going battle that can be both costly and exhausting. Organisations can learn from military strategists and use information to develop successful economic strategies. There are plenty of examples from military strategists past and present. Many have a similar theme…
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Western and communist countries have had very different approaches to intelligence gathering over the years. The fundamental difference is that the communist approach starts with childhood education and intelligence service secrecy. Western countries on the other hand are far more open in how its population is educated and the plans and objectives of their intelligence services. It is useful to…
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