The recent attacks on Corporate Entities through Cyber-Digital means, does cause considerable amount of damage to the Corporate House/OEMs/Professional Service Provider/etc; yet there are Cyber Non-Physical means, that also cause considerable damage when such attacks are executed. The rebuilding of reputation becomes an added aim of the victim through CBM and Image Make-over, etc. Sabotage on corporate entities through Psychosocial means, Non-Cyber-Digital Methods, or Non-invasive actions is also a form of violence that is seldom discussed. But the effects of such sabotage can span across many areas, and can be also equally damaging.
Consider the costs incurred in rebuild the company’s reputation that has been targeted by a disgruntled employee or a competitor Corporate House (whether it is physically, mentally, or reputation-wise), which sometimes can be at the cost of taking the perpetrator at its face-value.; this then may be quite alarming and catastrophic for the Corporate House/OEMs/Professional Service Provider/etc. Furthermore, consider having to rebuild the morale and trust levels when an act of sabotage occurs, this cannot be quantified in monetary means and may even end up spending a bomb to stand back. Hence, this form of sabotage is no laughing matter and as the number of cases continues to rise, corporate house cannot take it lightly any more.
This form of damage, is not only influential upon the Big Corporate Houses; but has also seen to be impacting the MSME, in India, that thrive to compete with the ‘Big Fish‘, in this competitive market. This cut-throatism has seen the dooming of many of the good MSME and Startups, that dream of making a good beginning but are malinned are maligned by the Machiavellian elements.
What is Cyber Non-Physical Sabotage?
Cyber Non-Physical Sabotage is an act that involves individual or corporate or both actors, targeting the reputation the non-censorious infrastructure another corporate/body/individual, by means of non-physical means, with an aim to damage the Corporate House/OEMs. In the conventional meaning of ‘Sabotage’ it can be defined as: “Sabotage is defined as deliberate and malicious acts that result in the disruption of the normal processes and functions or the destruction or damage of equipment or information”. The sabotage can be for a variety of purposes ranging from mere disruption in public services to creating disruptions to demands of ransom and observations by the perpetrator or competitive corporate house. These forms of attacks are non-quantifiable and is seldom also reported, as this tantamount to a case of defamation, which may require a huge amount of forensic effort and legal assistance.
What Is Institutional Dysregulation?
Institutional Dysregulation, or emotional dysregulation, is an inability to control or regulate an organisational emotional response, which can lead to significant ambiguity, significant changes in organisational culture, or management emotional lability. It can involve many emotions, including sadness, anger, irritability, and frustration. This can lead to inappropriate reaction to anonymous or Cyber Non-invasive attacks. (Billboard Publications, Social Media Posts, Emails, etc)
A Billboard Publication of the negatives, which may not even be authentic of non-verified, can be of detrimental with respect to the attacker. The Non-Cyber means of disseminating fake propaganda by blogging, trawling or advertisements is a common practice in corporate sabotage. This act, seldom require the large budgetary support. The drive of re-posting them is sometimes peddled by emotions and can cause a Butterfly Effect.
The Social Media, is also the place for Negative Campaigns. Proper planning is necessary to ensure the negative of effects of social media does not keep the corporate from experiencing the positive benefits of increased contact with customers, a more robust web presence and a free opportunity to expand the reach of your enterprise. The restriction-less and freedom of access that the World Wide Web, offered through Social Media, is generally exploited by the perpetrator to drive his/her/their agenda.
E-mail has emerged as the most important application on Internet for communication of messages, delivery of documents and carrying out of transactions and is used not only from computers but many other electronic gadgets like mobile phones. In the recent past, the prevailing Privacy Practices has seen changes in the ossification procedures and practices by the service provider. The Anonymous Mails, Pseudo-mails, Impersonated emails, etc, are the means that is resorted-to, to send mails to competitors and customers. This then is negative aspect of the mailing service; wherein the properties of anonymisation and the speed is used by the perpetrator to achieve the adverse.
How To Recognize a Corporate Sabotage?
Using simple techniques for ruining meetings, evading clients, opinionizing customers, disrupt attempts of a company as a manager/employee/competitor are exercised to achieve the Corporate Sabotage. The bad news is that these behaviours have become run-of-the-mill, anti-patterns, and are being used to regularly sabotaging projects/entities and thereby impacting businesses.
An intelligent enterprise or a company or an individual need to be equipped to identify these Corporate Sabotage attempts and find the alternative against such campaigns:
- Vested Interest of the adversary
- Weakness among the recipient, to fall a prey
- What these sabotage anti-patterns are intended to
- The Subliminal recognition of the behaviour of others
- The non-pattern in strategy as part of BCP (handle the Cyber Non-Physical attack)
- Tactics to mitigate these behaviours
How to stop Cyber Non-Physical Sabotage?
It is well understood that cybercrime against corporates is a visible concern for companies and governments in India, but, one of its most pernicious effects is still largely unrecognized, and that is the Cyber Non-Physical Sabotage. But, again, wherever Cyber Non-Physical Sabotage takes hold, vulnerability to the victim(s) also emerges as a tangible attribute. It diminishes the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of services both to the attacker and the subject. Again, there good reasons, that this form of attack will thrive in the days ahead, and perpetrators will continue to target the vulnerable and the weak.
Further, to achieve a more resilient corporate or body to evade the damage due to Cyber Non-Physical Sabotage, one need to pitch the level of preparedness with strategies that is comprehensive, collaborative, and capabilities-driven:
Comprehensive: an action-packed organisation to ensure effective protection of the organisation, that entails effective identification, analyze suspicious activity, and provide remediation in the event that something does occur. A comprehensive Cyber Non-Physical protection policy is essentially a battle plan that guides any organization, ensuring that your decision making is guarded from potential adverse interpretation.
Collaborative: The concept of collaborative Cyber Non-Physical protection involves closer collaboration between organizations and appointments with in an organisation cutting across different functionaries to safeguard critical damage due to perception of. Even today, the cyber protection is manually-driven, siloed, and reactive in nature, and the lack of security collaboration intensifies these problems. Further, true security collaboration can only be achieved by eliminating silos at every level of cybersecurity detection, analysis and response, against Cyber Non-Physical attacks. Cyber Non-Physical protection is also possible only through mutual consultation. The clarification and perception can only be achieved when the aggrieved and the recipient collaborate and talk in a transparent manner.
Capabilities-driven: A strategic approach to Cyber Non-Physical attacks can help build robust capabilities for constructing resilient systems – and for defending them from attack. This construction requires well-thought about Confidence Building Measures and adhering to guidelines., regular and ongoing measurement. A case-to-case evaluation is also the need.