A knowledge economy is one where information, expertise, intellectual property, and other intangible assets create most of the value. In cyber security, that matters because these assets are easy to copy, repackage, or steal once an attacker gets access. Unlike physical goods, data, source code, research, customer lists, and credentials can be moved quietly and used again and again.
Attackers often target the knowledge economy by stealing trade secrets, leaking internal documents, hijacking collaboration tools, or extorting organizations with sensitive data. Defenders respond by treating knowledge as a protected asset: classifying data, limiting access, monitoring exfiltration, and securing identity and collaboration systems. The same idea also shapes defense strategy, because good visibility into assets, data flows, and ownership makes risk easier to measure and reduce.