298  CHAPTER 6 • Enhancing Business Intelligence Using Big Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence

step in 2021 by signing a contract with Defending against cyberattacks is In the digital age, new information-gath-
Amazon to use their cloud services. Critics hardly the British intelligence services’ ering methods have been just as transforma-
blasted this decision on the grounds that sen- only digital interest. In 2016 these services tive for the spy business as hacking.
sitive information and state secrets were were given greatly enhanced surveillance Investigative consortia such as Bellingcat
now being transferred to a corporation, and a powers in the Investigatory Powers Act. have outdone “traditional” spies by obtaining
non-British one at that. Government offi- The bill, which was highly controversial in information from open source data. Face-
cials stressed that the contract would the United Kingdom and soon received the book accounts, manuals, blogs—there is a
increase the efficiency of divisions like MI6; moniker “the Snooper’s Charter,” was wealth of information available on the inter-
what those advantages are was, perhaps fit- described by the British government as net for those who know where to look. Bell-
tingly for a secret service, never made very intended to protect the United Kingdom ingcat has thus been able to extensively
clear. But experts outside MI6 say that the from threats, digital or otherwise. However, document what has been happening on
move would allow information to be pro- the bill may have given Parliament’s sanc- battlefields in conflict areas such as Syria
cessed more quickly, in days or hours tion to activities MI6 was already engaged and Yemen. This information-gathering
instead of weeks, and that it would also be in, and not only against the systems of so- requires a considerable workforce and very
easier for MI6 to use tools like speech recog- called “enemy states.” In 2013, for exam- specific skills that traditional spies do not
nition. Many of these experts also pointed to ple, the systems of Belgian telecom necessarily have—another reason why MI6
the fact that MI6 is underfunded and needed provider Belgacom were hacked. As is willing to step outside its usual boundaries
outside help for such digital activities; in the always, in such cases it is difficult to be and seriously contemplate cooperation with
1990s, for instance, its budget was slashed completely sure who the culprit was, but state-of-the-art private technology firms.
by 25 percent. Additionally, security mea- according to Edward Snowden, a former There is, however, a glimmer of hope
sures have been implemented so the data are U.S. National Security Agency employee for “traditional” spies. According to Moore,
stored in the United Kingdom and Amazon and whistleblower, the hack was the work information-gathering through contacts in
as a company will not have access to them. of British intelligence services. An official other countries will always be part and par-
Nor is it uncommon for British government Belgian enquiry backed this conclusion. cel of the spying business. Hence, even in
agencies to have cloud storage contracts Allegedly, the objective of the hack was not the future, there will be a need for agents
with companies from outside the country; Belgacom itself but a subsidiary company like James Bond—but they probably need
Google, for example, was already being that had data related to phone traffic in, for to study data science before applying for
used by several agencies to store data. instance, the Middle East and Africa. the job.

Questions
6-48. Would you be in favor of your country’s intelligence agen- Burgess, M. (2020, November 28). The UK created a secretive, elite hack-
cies signing a cloud contract with Amazon like MI6 did? ing force. Here’s what it does. Wired. Retrieved December 30, 2021, from
Give an argument in favor of the contract and an argument https://www.wired.co.uk/article/national-cyber-force-uk-defence-gchq
against it. Gardner, F. (2021, November 30). MI6 must adapt to new technology to sur-
6-49. Study one of the projects undertaken by Bellingcat, the vive, says spy chief. BBC News. Retrieved December 30, 2021, from https://
research consortium mentioned in the case. Make a list of www.bbc.com/news/uk-59470026
open sources that were being used in the project. Kiek, T. (2021, April 30). MI6 seeks real-life “Q” to equip UK spies with
6-50. Research the Belgacom hack on the internet. How did the gadgets and gizmos. The National. Retrieved December 31, 2021, from
https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mi6-seeks-real-life-q-to-equip-
hackers get access to the firm’s systems?
uk-spies-with-gadgets-and-gizmos-1.1214117
SIS. Official website. Retrieved December 30, 2021, from https://www.sis.
Based on:
gov.uk/
BBC. (2010, September 21). History of MI6 detailed in new book. BBC News.
Retrieved December 30, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11378601
Copyright © 2022. Pearson Education, Limited. All rights reserved.

CASE 2 Gathering Social Intelligence

In recent years, social media have become enterprises to learn how to better market product is selling well in one location but
pervasive throughout society. No one can products and promote celebrities. not another. By integrating social media
deny that social media have completely Responding to the growing influence of with traditional BI tools, you can monitor
changed the context of privacy, shaping and social media and, in turn, demonstrating everything that is being said about your
reshaping relationships, exaggerating ideals another crucial function of the phenome- products on various platforms. With such
of sharing, and reconstructing daily routines non, all types of organizations are finding social intelligence, you can gain deeper and
in order to visit one’s online friends at least value in monitoring and digesting the non- more timely insights about customers,
once a day. Thanks to social media, people stop flow of posts in the social media world. learning why a product is not selling. As we
can now share every detail about the most For example, traditional business intelli- all know, information can travel fast on
mundane things in life. Updating where you gence (BI) will inform you where your social media sites, as information goes viral
are at any given moment alerts your friends products are selling well and where they are when people like, share, and retweet infor-
to what you are up to but also allows not. But it will not tell you why your mation. By carefully monitoring trends,

Valacich, J., & Schneider, C. (2022). Information systems today : Managing in the digital world, global edition. Pearson Education, Limited.
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  CHAPTER 6 • Enhancing Business Intelligence Using Big Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence  299

companies can stay ahead of the competi- gathering, either. Today, social media have where people are compelled to share what
tion as new information is starting to trend. people racing to express who they are and they know or think with just about anyone.
Countless successful organizations are what they think, information that has never Have you checked your Facebook
actively monitoring social media to gain been this vast and openly accessible. Using newsfeed today? Or, more accurately, how
social intelligence regarding the sentiments such information, the U.S. government is many times have you been on Facebook
of current and future customers. developing tools to forecast everything since you woke up this morning? It is aston-
Social media has not only become an from revolutions to upheavals to economic ishing to see what a large part of our lives
important source of up-to-date information changes. Recently released documents also social media have become. By just keeping
for businesses, but it is also emerging as a reveal that the U.S. National Security an eye on the number of posts your feed
valuable resource for police and other first Agency (NSA) uses Facebook and other gets in an hour, you can easily imagine how
responders. Social media users have dem- social media profiles to create maps of analyzing these massive numbers of posts
onstrated that information about crises can social connections. From business corpora- can quickly become a Big Data problem.
travel at a rate that rivals 911 services. tions to government agencies, insights On the other hand, gaining social intelli-
Indeed, analyzing public information is not about what is happening, or about to hap- gence has become a Big Data opportunity
unusual in the world of intelligence pen, can be gleaned from social media for countless organizations.

Questions
6-51. How will organizations know what to look for when using .smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-listening/best-
social media for business intelligence? practice-tactical-strategic-social-media-monitoring
6-52. How can government organizations analyze social media Colmenarejo, A. (2019, October 24). The tense relationship between social
activities to predict social upheavals? media intelligence and privacy. The Security Distillery. Retrieved July 14,
6-53. Given the speed and volume of activity on social media, 2020, from https://thesecuritydistillery.org/all-articles/the-tense-relationship-
what business analytics and visualization tools could be between-social-media-intelligence-and-privacy
used to make sense of the information? Gellman, B. (2020, May 24). Inside the NSA’s secret tool for mapping your
social network. Wired. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://www.wired.com/
story/inside-the-nsas-secret-tool-for-mapping-your-social-network
Based on:
PRISM (surveillance program). (2020, June 28). In Wikipedia, The Free
Budryk, Z. (2019, September 3). Facebook pushes back on feds’ plan to use
Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/
fake social media accounts. The Hill. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://
index.php?title=PRISM_(surveillance_program)&oldid=965005365
thehill.com/policy/technology/459789-facebook-pushes-back-on-feds-plan-
to-use-fake-social-media-accounts Social media analytics. (2020, June 23). In Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/
Chaffey, D. (2020, March 17). Social media monitoring to get closer to your
index.php?title=Social_media_analytics&oldid=963995311
customer. Smart Insights. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://www

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.edu/blog/post/importance-of-business-analytics .com/news/technology-36517340

Valacich, J., & Schneider, C. (2022). Information systems today : Managing in the digital world, global edition. Pearson Education, Limited.
M06_VALA8115_09_GE_C06.indd 299 07/04/22 2:43 PM
Created from vin-ebooks on 2024-10-22 10:33:15.