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Chapter 11 • Intelligence Resources
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Because confidentiality agreements can be limiting, it is important that
when you create ones for your clients or employees, you outline the specifics
of what information is kept in confidence, when it can be discussed, what
information is available to the public, and other issues that may impact the
agreement at a later time.The confidentiality agreement works as a contract
between you and another party, so you should specify that information may
be released as part of a criminal investigation or other instances where you
deem it may be necessary.
Conflict of Interest
Before joining membership organizations, you should determine whether
information about your network can be exchanged with people in that orga-
nization. If you were dealing with a security problem and posted information
to such a site, you could possibly break a confidentiality agreement with your
own company. In such a situation, you may be abiding by one agreement but
breaking another. Have a clear understanding as to what information you can
provide when posting questions about your site online, or when discussing
issues with other security professionals.
N
OTE
Don’t get too stressed over what you can disclose and what you can’t.
Requesting permission from a decision maker at your place of employ-
ment will allow you to discuss information to improve security. If you
have questions as to what you can discuss outside of a membership
organization, ask them. In all cases, however, never reveal more infor-
mation than necessary.
What to Do with 
the Information When You Get It
Through memberships, mailing lists, and other information available on the
Internet, you should be able to keep relatively up to date on what threats can
impact your network. Using this information, you can discover new vulnera-
bilities that can be exploited, patches and updates that need to be applied, and