Corporate espionage may not be something that comes to mind when you think about cybersecurity. It does have a place in the cyber realm though. There are many different types of corporate espionage that involve use of the internet or online tools. There are also forms of corporate espionage that are low-tech, but that impact the high-tech world. Let’s start with what corporate espionage (CE) is, the gathering of information about an organization that is private or secret to the organization. This information may be client lists, secret recipes, patented process details, and other closely guarded proprietary information. For obvious reasons, there is often a high price on such information.
While James Bond movies would have you believe that espionage is accomplished using a wide assemblage of fancy technology, the reality is that most espionage is accomplished through less technical means. A few of examples of these are explained next.
Dumpster diving may sound silly and be easily dismissed as a method that is not actually used. Oh, but it is. Dumpster divers have been caught in the trash piles of some of the world’s biggest high-tech firms. Why, you may ask? Because not everyone shreds the material they are supposed to shred, meaning it is recoverable. And thereby able to be stolen. Trash cans hold printed documents, hand-written notes, receipts for lunches, date books with appointment and contact information, initial sketches of designs, and drafts of contracts. All of these documents contain valuable information.
Interns have become a problem for some organizations. The nature of being an intern necessitates that the interns are familiarized with the organization’s inner workings in a short period of time so they can contribute to the workload. There have been a few cases where interns have ingratiated themselves within an organization with the intention of stealing sensitive organizational information.
Start-up investors are a new source of corporate espionage, especially in high-tech firms. Some cases have been international in scope. Here is what happened. Foreign investors put money into bleeding-edge technology start-ups in the U.S. After a period of time and more invested funds, the investors request to see the schematics, plans, etc. They secure copies and then take them back to their home country. The really tricky part comes in when their home country does not recognize intellectual property rights. If they are not recognized, then it makes it more difficult to prove a case for theft.
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