Intelligence Agencies’ move to the Cloud: Challenges and Opportunities

Authors

  • Karin Säberg Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden
  • Gazmend Huskaj Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7552-9465

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/iccws.19.1.2008

Keywords:

intelligence, intelligence agency, cloud, cloud computing, information security

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to discover more about the challenges and opportunities faced by intelligence agencies wishing to move their data to the cloud. Intelligence agencies collect and process enormous amounts of data and information and need the tools to do so. Two intelligence communities have moved to the cloud to face these issues but there is little scientific knowledge about moving an intelligence agency’s data to the cloud. No research on the topic could be found and this study aims to fill part of that gap by using a case study research strategy and interviews with experts in the field. A literature review was completed to understand previously identified challenges when adopting cloud and was used to create two sets of interview questions. Five interviews were conducted, and a thematic analysis done resulting in fourteen themes. The themes revealed that there are many challenges with laws and regulations being the biggest one, while the opportunities brought by a cloud solution are the processing and analysis of data, and information sharing.

Author Biographies

Karin Säberg, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden

Karin holds an MSc in Information Security from Stockholm University and serves as an Information Security Specialist at the Swedish Defence Material Administration. She actively enhances her practical knowledge and expertise in Information Security implementation. Her focus areas include social aspects of information security and cloud technologies for intelligence purposes.

Gazmend Huskaj, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden

Gazmend is the Head of Cyber Security at the GCSP. Previously, he was a doctoral student in Cyberspace Operations at the Swedish Defence University. Additionally, he was Director of Intelligence on Cyber-related issues in the Swedish Armed Forces. He is a veteran with more than five years of duty in conflict and post-conflict areas. His work focuses on capacity-building, dialogue, and policy analysis.

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Published

2024-03-21

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2024): Proceedings of The 19th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security

Section

Masters Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Karin Säberg, Gazmend Huskaj

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.