How does intellectual capital align with cyber security?

• Published in: Journal of intellectual capital Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 621 - 641
• Main Authors: Renaud, Karen, Von Solms, Basie, Von Solms, Rossouw
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 11-11-2019; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Confidentiality; Cybercrime; Cybersecurity; Data integrity; Hard disks; Intellectual capital; Internet; Network security; Preservation; Responsibilities; Security management; Security programs; Virtual private networks; Intellectual capital; Boards of directors; Intellectual capital security governance; Executive management teams
• ISSN: 1469-1930; 1758-7468
• DOI: 10.1108/JIC-04-2019-0079

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to position the preservation and protection of intellectual capital as a cyber security concern. The paper outlines the security requirements of intellectual capital to help boards of directors (BoDs) and executive management teams to understand their responsibilities and accountabilities in this respect.
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology is desk research. In other words, we gathered facts and existing research publications that helped us to define key terms, to formulate arguments to convince BoDs of the need to secure their intellectual capital and to outline actions to be taken by BoDs to do so.
Findings
Intellectual capital, as a valuable business resource, is related to information, knowledge and cyber security. Hence, preservation thereof is also related to cyber security governance and merits attention from BoDs.
Research limitations/implications
This paper clarifies BoDs intellectual capital governance responsibilities, which encompass information, knowledge and cyber security governance.
Practical implications
The authors hope that BoDs will benefit from the clarifications, and especially from the positioning of intellectual capital in cyber space.
Social implications
If BoDs know how to embrace their intellectual capital governance responsibilities, this will help to ensure that such intellectual capital is preserved and secured.
Originality/value
This paper extends a previous paper published by Von Solms and Von Solms, which clarified the key terms of information and cyber security, and the governance thereof. The originality and value is the focus on the securing of intellectual capital, a topic that has not yet received a great deal of attention from security researchers.