Spies without borders.
This is the new reality both governments and businesses face in the aftermath of the WikiLeaks disclosure of hundreds of thousands of classified U. S. military and diplomatic files. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has taken hacking and whistle blowing to a new level by creating a truly independent intelligence agency. WikiLeaks owes no loyalty to any public or private organization, and this has governments worldwide losing sleep.
What does this have to do with business intelligence? Plenty. Mr. Assange, you see, isn't interested in just governments. He's coming after big business too, as he recently disclosed in an interview with Forbes. His vision, when you boil it down, is simple: a world without secrets. And this means greater danger to business intelligence data than ever before, especially for Fortune 1000 companies.
As I write this, pressure on WikiLeaks is mounting rapidly. It's quite possible that Mr. Assange will be closed down before long. But it doesn't end there. There are others who share his vision, even if they don't care for his (ironically) controlling management style. Indeed, some of these people started out with Mr. Assange and are talking about creating an alternative to his web site. WikiLeaks is only the beginning.
What this means for BI is that security will become an even higher priority than before, since BI data are among a company's most sensitive. But the danger isn't only lurking outside the firewall. The U. S. believes the damaging military leaks of spring 2010 resulted from the actions of a single private, who had access to the data from the inside. If you are in a small or medium size business you may not need the same sense of urgency - yet. But it's never too late to start thinking about the security of your BI data.
Spies without borders. They're coming. Is BI ready? Are you?
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