Cyber counterintelligence: Concept, actors and implications for security

Contemporary security is increasingly concerned with and affected by actions undertaken via cyberspace. The use and exploitation of the cyber domain is of particular interest and use to practitioners and scholars of intelligence and counterintelligence. The stability and security of cyberspace now affects individual, organizational, national, and international security. However, the rapid proliferation of actors in this relatively new domain has resulted in an operational field wherein the capacity to act has thus far surpassed academic or institutional understanding. Further, while intelligence collection methods in cyberspace have developed rapidly, both practice and understanding of cyber counterintelligence appear to have fallen behind. The first aim of this paper is to define and examine the concept of counterintelligence. Having defined the term and located the discipline within the structure of the overarching intelligence/security field, the second aim of this paper is to provide a contextualized understanding of the actors in cyberspace who are employing cyber counterintelligence. Finally, this paper will examine the possible implications of the practice of cyber counterintelligence, and consider future avenues of research in the field. Book available at: http://masseypress.ac.nz/books/all/all/cyber-security-and-policy