Threat analysis: Defining the adversary

Abstract

Threat analysis seeks to understand the motives and capabilities of adversaries who may be targeting your corporation's critical information. These potential assailants include domestic or foreign corporations, foreign intelligence services, anti-business activists, criminals, and terrorists. The key to threat analysis as a way of managing security risks is to adopt an adversary's perspective. The author describes where threat analysis fits into the overall operations security/risk management process and discusses ways of identifying critical information and vulnerabilities, performing a risk assessment, and applying countermeasures. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.