Competitive Intelligence Officers: Are they the best people to lead Information Security?

Brand Killer Robots reveal::

We call on commercial organisations around the world to consider this question!

Just who is the best department to be heading up your business security?

Should it be operations, IT or marketing? Just what type of level of person do you require? Should their background be technical, intelligence based or business management. Are they tactical focused, strategic minded or both? Are they concentrated on inside issues, external considerations or competitor focused? Do they deal with policy making, procedure biased or totally fluid in their approach?

Are they architects, designers, builders, testers or QA men? Are they offense or defense driven or both? Does their remit cover a specific area of the business dynamic or do they see security as a multi-dimensional, multi-faceted enterprise wide responsibility? Are they commercially astute and see business security as a strategic weapon for defeating their enemies (the competition) or do they take an approach that is simply concentrated on maintaining the security dynamic?

Just what type of animal is the best to be running your business security capability?

When conducting an audit on your business security, concentrate on discovering the gaps between the various security officer remits and not so much on the effectiveness of what is covered. Consider the patterns of attack that are possible in these gaps and the effectiveness of the security organisation to respond. Concentrate on patterns of attack that cross departmental borders and those that use multi-faceted, multi-functional-level methods of attack.

Ask any security manager to describe the remit he covers, then consider the wider picture of business security and you will begin to understand the problem.

After many years of considering this problem, our recommedations are to appoint a small team of seasoned "Competitive Intelligence Officers" as the key custodians of security in your business. These people would be supported by relevant specialist security officers and would report directly to the CEO.

These would be the best people to lead commercial security in the 21st Century?

For a detailed profile of the ultimate security team email sryan@intrench.com