Breaching intellectual capital: critical reflections on Big Data security

Abstract

Purpose Reflecting on Big Data’s assumed benefits, this study aims to identify the risks and challenges of data security underpinning Big Data’s socio-economic value and intellectual capital (IC). Design/methodology/approach The study reviews academic literature, professional documents and public information to provide insights, critique and projections for IC and Big Data research and practice. Findings The “voracity” for data represents a further “V” of Big Data, which results in a continuous hunt for data beyond legal and ethical boundaries. Cybercrimes, data security breaches and privacy violations reflect voracity and represent the dark side of the Big Data ecosystem. Losing the confidentiality, integrity or availability of data because of a data security breach poses threat to IC and value creation. Thus, cyberthreats compromise the social value of Big Data, impacting on stakeholders’ and society’s interests. Research limitations/implications Because of the interpretative nature of this study, other researchers may not draw the same conclusions from the evidence provided. It leaves some open questions for a wide research agenda about the societal, ethical and managerial implications of Big Data. Originality/value This paper introduces the risks of data security and the challenges of Big Data to stimulate new research paths for IC and accounting research.

The Effect of Intellectual Capital and Board Characteristics on Value Creation and Growth

“…Intellectual capital can be defined as a combination of intangible or trivial assets, which are not disclosed in the balance sheet. According to accounting literature, human capital, organizational capital, relational capital, and customer capital are among the specific characteristics and components of intellectual capital [18][19][20]. If the intellectual capital characteristics are being managed properly, companies' growth could lead to companies' growth [21].…”

“…In the long term, these investments can enrich scientific humus and entrepreneurial mindsets [47]. La Torre et al [18] suggest that losing confidentiality, integrity, or data availability because of a data security breach poses a threat to IC and value creation. Thus, cyberthreats compromise the social value of Big Data, impacting stakeholders' and society's interests.…”

SE-Enc: A Secure and Efficient Encoding Scheme Using Elliptic Curve Cryptography

“…The growing need to maintain data confidentiality and integrity has resulted in an explosion of interest in cryptography schemes [1], [2]. Schemes used to encrypt data are divided into two types: namely, symmetric and asymmetric cryptography.…”

Securing intellectual capital: an exploratory study in Australian universities

“…Among the first to do so, Bontis (1998) argues that organizations that securely protect their information possess high IC. La Torre, Dumay, and Rea (2018) revisit data, information, and knowledge processes and suggest that protection is needed across all components, for an organization to be able to defend its IC. This is demonstrated by the intrinsic relationship existing, for example, between privacy violations (individual level) and security incidents (organizational level) (La Torre et al, 2018).…”

“…La Torre, Dumay, and Rea (2018) revisit data, information, and knowledge processes and suggest that protection is needed across all components, for an organization to be able to defend its IC. This is demonstrated by the intrinsic relationship existing, for example, between privacy violations (individual level) and security incidents (organizational level) (La Torre et al, 2018). The authors suggest a framework whereby data breaches impact on IC's traditional components: in particular, loss of confidentiality would affect HC, SC and RC; loss of integrity would affect HC and SC; and so would loss of availability.…”