Cyber counterintelligence: Some contours towards the academic research agenda

Abstract

In little more than a decade, Cyber Counterintelligence (CCI) has evolved from a near obscure academic research topic to a distinctive, interdisciplinary field of enquiry. Although in various respects still in its academic infancy, CCI now boasts a significant corpus of academic literature. At this juncture, CCI’s progression as an academic sub-discipline can benefit from selectively taking stock of what has been done, reflecting on research challenges being experienced and prioritising some areas for future research. This paper advances such a high-level proposition on the CCI research agenda. This proposition consists of four parts. Firstly, we explain and qualify our approach to addressing the paper's theme. Since a CCI literature review has been undertaken in three recently published research works (Duvenage, Jaquire & von Solms 2018 a-b, Duvenage 2019), we categorically qualify our approach as not attempting a conventional literature review. Secondly, the paper examines CCI's research context and outline research challenges. Thirdly, the paper selectively 'contours' existing research. These 'contours' comprise some salient topics addressed in surveyed CCI literature. This assessment thus moves beyond a conventional literature review and instead follows a broad-brush approach that highlights some main areas of CCI research thus far conducted. Fourthly, the paper proposes some 'contours' for the CCI research agenda going forward. These 'contours' are presented as general proposals on priority areas for further research. It is hoped that these proposals will aid the focusing of academic CCI research conducted outside the realm of state security structures. The paper concludes with a summary of findings.