Companies in the banking and payments sector are growing increasingly wary of threats from online operations and job postings related to cyber-crime intelligence, fraud and cyber threat that have incidence response associated with Intelligence Collection Disciplines (INTs), according to the GlobalData.

The leading data and analytics company noted that the specific Intelligence Collection Disciplines (INT) job postings that have increased include roles for experience in gathering Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) and Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT). As well as this, the number of companies/sectors that are posting these roles are increasing as well.

The number of companies posting jobs around INTs increased from 162 in April 2021 to 312 in April 2022. In the same period, posted jobs increased to 1,017 from 802, highlighting a growth of 27 per cent. However, on a month-on-month basis, the number of posted job slightly dropped from 1024 in March 2022 to 1,017 in April 2022.

Sherla Sriprada, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, said:

“Aerospace and defense, technology and communications, business and consumer services were some of the sectors where jobs related to INTs were trending. However, INTs have moved beyond conventional sectors as more products or services go online, and information needs become diverse in a dynamic environment.”
Sherla Sriprada

There are plethora of instances, one including when KBR Inc. posted a HUMINT Analyst role requiring experience in identifying national security information sources for developing new lines of effort for Foreign Intelligence (FI), Counterintelligence (CI), and Cyber Intelligence from overt HUMINT sources for its strategic clients postured globally.

Job Roles Requiring INTs

In the Banking sector, a Security Research Operations Specialist role at Mastercard requires working knowledge of OSINT network scanning repositories such as Shodan, Censys and BinaryEdge, GlobalData noted.

Moreover, retail companies are also looking at roles for protecting personnel, property, assets, information, and brands from threats, both internal and external. For instance, Nike’s Brand Protection Analyst role requires experience in gathering OSINT and an understanding of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

“Companies are increasingly looking at INTs to secure data intelligence for actionable insights. New and emerging technologies such as computer vision, machine learning, analytic modelling, new sensor types such as imagery/video/WAMI/GMTI, object-based production, crowd-sourced data labelling are expected to further enhance analytic insights.”
Sherla Sriprada

On the whole, active jobs globally witnessed a decline of 7% month-on-month in April 2022 as postings fell and closures rose. Technology themes– Cloud and Digitalization, had the most job closures.

Retail companies such as Accenture were looking at digital transformation opportunities, in the post-COVID-19 era, with the likes of metaverse driving digital customer experiences. Retail giant Amazon is facing issues in sourcing skilled labor in the US and Canada for warehouse operations and is planning to recruit graduating high school students.

Amazon’s competitor Walmart is expected to create over 250 jobs through a grocery distribution centre in British Columbia, Canada. Walmart’s subsidiary Flipkart opened its largest fulfilment center in West Bengal, India, with employment for an estimated 11,000 people.

Data intelligence is very crucial to companies’ operations. With new technologies coming up, cyber threats will continue to remain a big threat for banking and payment sector.