One of the most promising areas of work for the security service is analytical intelligence using the Internet. Many experts also refer to this complex of measures as computer intelligence. Its essence lies in the search and transmission of information from computer systems and networks of the "World Wide Web" with subsequent verification and analytical processing.
Both state and non-state special services show great interest in methods of analytical intelligence. This is due to the fact that the Internet contains large amounts of information that can be of operational interest, both for the former and for the latter. Therefore, in many countries, in particular in the law enforcement agencies of Russia (Office "R" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Department of Information Security of the FSB), the United States (FBI) and Germany (VKA), special analytical intelligence units have been created on the Internet. Similar subdivisions function in transnational corporations, which more and more turn into states within a state.
In addition, there are independent research centers specializing in "fishing" the necessary data in the "digital ocean". In Western Europe and the United States, collecting information through the Internet has long been a very profitable business. According to the open press, more than a dozen companies are currently operating in France alone, whose task is to study documents, including tables and figures, existing in the Internet space. As an example, we can cite the linguistic engineering company MAAS, which is focused on information and analytical support of such key sectors of the French economy as the aerospace industry, transport and energy.
For global research on the Internet, special "data collection processors" are used (in some sources they are also called "text-analytical systems", although the name is not entirely correct, since not only text is analyzed, but also pictures, drawings and graphs). In this context, the term "processor" has nothing to do with a microprocessor, it is a part of a program that defines how the program itself manages and manipulates data. The data acquisition processor uses software called "robot": the "robot" extracts the information it needs using an arsenal of linguistic, semantic and statistical analysis tools. Acting autonomously, data collection processors intercept any requested information as soon as it appears on the Internet.
The very first was the declassified French processor "Taiga" (Tgaitement automatique de l`information geopolitique d`actualite - “automatic processing of actual geopolitical information”). This software package was originally developed for the needs of French intelligence, where he then worked hard for 11 years, after which it was transferred for commercial use. The tasks now set before him by civilian specialists have remained the same: "rummaging" on the Internet to extract valuable information from patent databases, news agency reports and publications on scientific conferences.
The methodology for conducting computer intelligence using this software is as follows: by processing open access materials available on the Internet, the statistical analysis program compiles the so-called maps of work in various branches of science. In turn, this allows analysts to identify the most promising scientific developments in areas where competition is still relatively low. The results of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results of the work of scientific laboratories make it possible to assess the degree of the creative atmosphere of research teams. It can also be very useful in identifying "promising flyers", ie. researchers who, in a relatively short time, manage to change a number of scientific centers of interest, and thus are familiar with many of the results of their work.
Another French development is worth mentioning. To carry out the semantic analysis of large information arrays, the company "Acetic" together with scientists from the University of Paris has developed a package of applied programs "Tropes". The selection of the required information occurs in accordance with keywords and concepts that are related in meaning. Thus, the name of the type of aircraft "Mirage" is associated with the words "aircraft" and "ister *** spruce", and the combination of the words "US Secretary of State" is automatically associated with the words "minister" and "politician". This software allows you to simultaneously analyze two text information fragments of several tens of book volumes. In addition, "Tropes" provides the ability to create the information "scripts" necessary for work, on the basis of which not only the search is automatically carried out,
Technological progress does not stand still, and it is very obvious that if state special services give such developments for commercial use, then this can only mean one thing - they have received something much more powerful at their disposal.
"Noemic", which replaced "Taiga" at the combat post, not only scans, but also automatically performs the "merging of sources", processing the information received at a rate of 1 billion characters per second, regardless of whether it exists in the form of a ready-made database or, for example, transmitted by an electronic news agency in any language as a complete text. This Semantic Data Acquisition Processor is also capable of processing noteworthy concepts, metaphors, and collections of ideas. If he is given the task of identifying, for example, all cases of establishing links between Hong Kong and American firms operating in the field of microelectronics over the past five years, then it will take him only a few hours to complete it.
The American counterpart of these software systems, called Topic, was also originally developed for intelligence purposes. This system came into being as a result of lengthy research work carried out under the control of the CIA. It has also been released for commercial use today and is held by the Californian firm Verity, a world leader in documentary collection.
Do not lag behind "Verity" and its competitors. For example, the American firm Intelligent Search Solutions has launched the InfoTracer software package for gathering economic intelligence information on the Internet. To "filter" information, the specified software uses keywords and phrases, after which messages of the content necessary for users are automatically compiled. They may contain, for example, data on the business operations of a particular company and its partners, the technologies they use and their products, as well as the names of management personnel.
In this regard, I would like to note that the emergence of new network information technologies has practically equalized the ability of competitors to obtain the necessary initial information. Now the main importance is the speed of the search and the correct analysis. This is exactly what the data collection processors can help, which allow to “extract” and analyze the necessary information from large information arrays. Professionals are well aware that economic intelligence can be conducted without computer hacking, simply by processing huge amounts of information available to every Internet user using a special algorithm.
But it should be noted that analytical intelligence via the Internet is a double-edged sword. The fact is that if you track and analyze the subject matter of interest to a specific economic subject of data available on the Internet, then it is quite simple to build a causal chain and identify the promising intentions of the enterprise, the level of its claims, on which, in turn, it will be possible assess his level of development. For this purpose, special "robots of robots" have been developed, which allow intercepting data on the operation of a system that is engaged in targeted collection of information.
And now let's return to the Russian reality and try to consider the national peculiarities of conducting analytical intelligence, and we will focus on those that do not require significant financial investments. I think that the previous material was able to convince the majority of readers that the use of analytical intelligence techniques opens up enormous opportunities for promptly obtaining the necessary data both from professional databases and data banks, and from unstructured information available on the Internet.
These circumstances naturally distinguish analytical intelligence into an independent direction of the activities of security units of economic entities, and in combination with other technologies for analytical processing of information, which will be described below, allow us to talk about a whole complex of intelligence activities based on modern information technologies.
Both state and non-state special services show great interest in methods of analytical intelligence. This is due to the fact that the Internet contains large amounts of information that can be of operational interest, both for the former and for the latter. Therefore, in many countries, in particular in the law enforcement agencies of Russia (Office "R" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Department of Information Security of the FSB), the United States (FBI) and Germany (VKA), special analytical intelligence units have been created on the Internet. Similar subdivisions function in transnational corporations, which more and more turn into states within a state.
In addition, there are independent research centers specializing in "fishing" the necessary data in the "digital ocean". In Western Europe and the United States, collecting information through the Internet has long been a very profitable business. According to the open press, more than a dozen companies are currently operating in France alone, whose task is to study documents, including tables and figures, existing in the Internet space. As an example, we can cite the linguistic engineering company MAAS, which is focused on information and analytical support of such key sectors of the French economy as the aerospace industry, transport and energy.
For global research on the Internet, special "data collection processors" are used (in some sources they are also called "text-analytical systems", although the name is not entirely correct, since not only text is analyzed, but also pictures, drawings and graphs). In this context, the term "processor" has nothing to do with a microprocessor, it is a part of a program that defines how the program itself manages and manipulates data. The data acquisition processor uses software called "robot": the "robot" extracts the information it needs using an arsenal of linguistic, semantic and statistical analysis tools. Acting autonomously, data collection processors intercept any requested information as soon as it appears on the Internet.
The very first was the declassified French processor "Taiga" (Tgaitement automatique de l`information geopolitique d`actualite - “automatic processing of actual geopolitical information”). This software package was originally developed for the needs of French intelligence, where he then worked hard for 11 years, after which it was transferred for commercial use. The tasks now set before him by civilian specialists have remained the same: "rummaging" on the Internet to extract valuable information from patent databases, news agency reports and publications on scientific conferences.
The methodology for conducting computer intelligence using this software is as follows: by processing open access materials available on the Internet, the statistical analysis program compiles the so-called maps of work in various branches of science. In turn, this allows analysts to identify the most promising scientific developments in areas where competition is still relatively low. The results of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results of the work of scientific laboratories make it possible to assess the degree of the creative atmosphere of research teams. It can also be very useful in identifying "promising flyers", ie. researchers who, in a relatively short time, manage to change a number of scientific centers of interest, and thus are familiar with many of the results of their work.
Another French development is worth mentioning. To carry out the semantic analysis of large information arrays, the company "Acetic" together with scientists from the University of Paris has developed a package of applied programs "Tropes". The selection of the required information occurs in accordance with keywords and concepts that are related in meaning. Thus, the name of the type of aircraft "Mirage" is associated with the words "aircraft" and "ister *** spruce", and the combination of the words "US Secretary of State" is automatically associated with the words "minister" and "politician". This software allows you to simultaneously analyze two text information fragments of several tens of book volumes. In addition, "Tropes" provides the ability to create the information "scripts" necessary for work, on the basis of which not only the search is automatically carried out,
Technological progress does not stand still, and it is very obvious that if state special services give such developments for commercial use, then this can only mean one thing - they have received something much more powerful at their disposal.
"Noemic", which replaced "Taiga" at the combat post, not only scans, but also automatically performs the "merging of sources", processing the information received at a rate of 1 billion characters per second, regardless of whether it exists in the form of a ready-made database or, for example, transmitted by an electronic news agency in any language as a complete text. This Semantic Data Acquisition Processor is also capable of processing noteworthy concepts, metaphors, and collections of ideas. If he is given the task of identifying, for example, all cases of establishing links between Hong Kong and American firms operating in the field of microelectronics over the past five years, then it will take him only a few hours to complete it.
The American counterpart of these software systems, called Topic, was also originally developed for intelligence purposes. This system came into being as a result of lengthy research work carried out under the control of the CIA. It has also been released for commercial use today and is held by the Californian firm Verity, a world leader in documentary collection.
Do not lag behind "Verity" and its competitors. For example, the American firm Intelligent Search Solutions has launched the InfoTracer software package for gathering economic intelligence information on the Internet. To "filter" information, the specified software uses keywords and phrases, after which messages of the content necessary for users are automatically compiled. They may contain, for example, data on the business operations of a particular company and its partners, the technologies they use and their products, as well as the names of management personnel.
In this regard, I would like to note that the emergence of new network information technologies has practically equalized the ability of competitors to obtain the necessary initial information. Now the main importance is the speed of the search and the correct analysis. This is exactly what the data collection processors can help, which allow to “extract” and analyze the necessary information from large information arrays. Professionals are well aware that economic intelligence can be conducted without computer hacking, simply by processing huge amounts of information available to every Internet user using a special algorithm.
But it should be noted that analytical intelligence via the Internet is a double-edged sword. The fact is that if you track and analyze the subject matter of interest to a specific economic subject of data available on the Internet, then it is quite simple to build a causal chain and identify the promising intentions of the enterprise, the level of its claims, on which, in turn, it will be possible assess his level of development. For this purpose, special "robots of robots" have been developed, which allow intercepting data on the operation of a system that is engaged in targeted collection of information.
And now let's return to the Russian reality and try to consider the national peculiarities of conducting analytical intelligence, and we will focus on those that do not require significant financial investments. I think that the previous material was able to convince the majority of readers that the use of analytical intelligence techniques opens up enormous opportunities for promptly obtaining the necessary data both from professional databases and data banks, and from unstructured information available on the Internet.
These circumstances naturally distinguish analytical intelligence into an independent direction of the activities of security units of economic entities, and in combination with other technologies for analytical processing of information, which will be described below, allow us to talk about a whole complex of intelligence activities based on modern information technologies.
