By Robert J. Shaker II, CISSP, CCSK, CGEIT, CRISC

Since the dawn of man there has been intelligence. Hunter gatherers would venture out and learn from the world around them what each sound, smell, and taste meant. The growl of a large predator would alert them to prepare for a defensive effort or to change paths. The smell of smoke meant other humans were nearby, and the taste of bitter meant something wasn’t edible. As time marched forward, needing to learn more about the other packs of humans around them became more important. There was competition or cooperation for resources but this required getting to know the other pack. Sometimes the best way to do that was to spy on them, to gather intelligence about the way they behaved, the way they interacted with each other and to determine how strong or weak they were.

Regardless of the point in history, this has always proven to be true. We can see it as we progress through our modern era. In fact, this became so important that commercial intelligence companies began forming. The Age of Exploration saw a boom in this industry as the colonial armies grew. Their need for intelligence required outside parties, whether to help with the sheer volume of work, geographic disbursement or to give plausible deniability.  Is it so different now?

Today, we are up against countless adversaries. They’re nameless, faceless and shrouded behind false information. The ships that are on the horizon, the spies in our midst and the fortress we protect are all in the digital domain. The virtual skies are foggy and visibility is low. Today’s environment is much more difficult to navigate. The one commonality between these two vastly different times is the importance of human intelligence, and I’d argue that today it’s even more important than ever. A couple scenarios below will illustrate just how important it is for our innately human talents to remain a vital part of cyber security.