Currently people are living in the era of globalization. More information is becoming available for users of the World Wide Web in the whole world. It is important to be alert about the possible ways of leakage of information. Businesses become victims of scams and information leakage which has a negative effect on the overall success and prosperity of the enterprise. Industrial espionage is a term which is not often mentioned or being acknowledged by the big businesses. Oftentimes the heads of big companies do not want to accept the fact that they were victims of the espionage. Most of the times it happens when the confidential information is not being properly stored. The access to the information should be secure and not easy reachable by anyone. There is a common misconception between industrial espionage and competitive intelligence which in fact are different ideas.
In order to be prepared for the future threats big industrial complexes and companies should be aware about the meaning of industrial espionage which is “the theft of trade secrets by the removal, copying or recording of confidential or valuable information in a company for use by a competitor” (Investopedia 2016). This type of espionage usually occurs in cases the competitors want to get the information which is usually not made public. This information is usually retrieved in a secret way from the computers within the institution that is being attacked. There is another type which is confused with industrial espionage. It is called competitive intelligence and it happens in case a competitor is conducting a legal investigation on the official websites and public sources in order to get the necessary information.
Industrial espionage occurs in the industries that heavily depend on the research because the competitors are willing to get the technological secrets that these companies have created.
This type of espionage is often associated with the use of technology because it may involve blackmailing. The occurrences of industrial espionage may result extremely negatively on the financial state of the enterprise. One of the facts which may be not available to everyone is that “Fortune 1000 companies lost approximately $45b to industrial espionage in 1999 and $59b in 2001” (American Society for Industrial Security 2012). This is the money that these companies could have put towards their profit. However, instead they became victims of the espionage and have lost their valuable profit and common security. The data of the enterprise should be protected at all times because the idea that could be bringing a lot of money to the company may be stolen by the competitors and in this case the espionage has occurred and it is hard to reverse the process and prove the initial provider of the idea.
It often happens that the threat comes from the inside of the company. Employees themselves may become spies for the competitors and receive the valuable information and share it with the competitor. There is also another way to commit the industrial espionage which may seem to be less direct. A spy will break into the premises of the investigated company and get the information which is being looked for. Up to the point that a spy can look through the garbage cans, computers that are available at the premises and many other different places which may be not considered by the company owners. But these are very specific places that may be targeted and it will result in the losses for the company that has been attacked.
There are many ways to avoid the industrial espionage. At the moment people live in the era of technology and it happens that we may be less alert because everyone is using the
advances of technology and does not want to give up them. But it is important to remember that even by having a pen that may record a meeting, or glasses that may take a video a valuable piece of information may be revealed to the competitor. One of the other ways the industrial espionage may be committed by installing a camera or a mic in the meeting room it enables a competitor to keep up with all the ideas that another company comes up with.
A company should be alert in order to avoid the presence of corporate spies in their walls. One of the first steps in prevention of the espionage is to understand what main company secrets are. It is crucial to know what the information that needs protection is. And whenever a company is ready to understand what part of their ideas may seem to be the most valuable, they no longer can keep it vulnerable. These are the areas that need to be protected more than the others. After identification of the information which may present the most value, it is important to see a side which may express the interest in this piece of information.
There are always sides that are more likely to commit the industrial espionage. One of the threats which may seem to be very obvious are the competitors. But these are not the only people who may be interested in the information because it all depends on the information that one may want to steal. It could also maybe some governmental institutions or the groups of activists. So it is necessary to have an open mind while considering the groups that may have interest in the information that the company owns.
Many companies could have avoided industrial espionage by coming up with the policies that will limit the access to the data or put additional security on the information which is being the most valuable for the company. Employees should be aware about the policies of company
about the information. There is always some information which should not be even shared between the employees themselves not considering the outside world. Therefore, employees should be warned about these specific pieces of information in advance. This type of approach will provide better security for the information.
Physical security of the companies should not be omitted as well. It is one of the vital steps that will grant security to the data which is one of the most confidential ones. Therefore, office building, offices themselves, meeting rooms and hallways should be equipped with surveillance cameras. However, a company may also hire special personnel that will make sure that there are no strangers on the territory or the employees are not committing anything suspicious. This step may be disregarded by many companies because they tend to trust their employees the most. However, it can be the only way to avoid the industrial espionage.
Also, more attention should be paid to the information which may seem unnecessary for the company but it may cause potential danger in the future in case the competitors receive it. There should be attention paid to social media accounts to make sure that the information that is made public does not create additional danger to the company's future. Therefore, it is important for the employees to get training on how they should deal with data which is being provided by them. These trainings should cover both internal and external exposure of the important and confidential information. At the same time employees should be able to identify and report any suspicious activity that may influence the work of the company. All of these steps should be discussed during the trainings.
There is information which simply may have no use for a specific department within this organization. So employees may have access only to the folders with data that actually has an effect on their work. It is important to understand that not all the information is being used on the daily basis by the employees of the company, in this case they do not need access to it and it may be restricted.
Apart from limiting the access to the employees who are currently working within the companies, they need to be instructed at the beginning of their career about the data policies on the enterprise and they can be reminded about it when they are leaving. The internal espionage usually happens during the last month of the employees’ work. Cybersecurity is another way to grant security to the information and it should not be forgotten by the companies. Technology is the key in our time and it may help avoiding a lot of issues and preserve the important information.
In conclusion, it is important to remember that technological progress moves forward very fast. Entrepreneurs may not even notice the danger from some competitors, but even though it is impossible to be fully aware of the dangers, it is important to take steps towards the safety of the information. The price of the stolen information may be higher than expected at first. One may never predict the future of the company but it is important to protect it from the possible fraud beforehand. Therefore, there should be specific data security measures taken that will decrease the possibility of industrial espionage. Many companies consider this type of espionage be not very possible, so they are not making any steps towards protection of their ideas and incomes. Technology is a very powerful tool which is likely to prevent all the instances of industrial espionage.
References
ASIS. (2012). Newsletters. Retrieved from:
<https://www.asisonline.org/Publications/Newsletters/Pages/default.aspx>
Annual Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage. (2004).
Print.
Investopedia. (2013, July 02). Industrial Espionage. Retrieved January 06, 2017, from
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/industrial-espionage.asp
