EMERGING ISSUES
Spycraft & Business Intelligence
By Dean Boerger, Private Investigator, Boerger Investigative Services, LLC
BUSINESS IS WAR! The White House estimates that the US Economy loses 100 Billion a year as a result of industrial espionage and theft of proprietary information. Information and knowledge about the business environment and competitors can be the difference between success and failure. What are specific reasons why a company and/or foreign nation may need this information and knowledge?
ods to obtain information. Business or economic intelligence refers to legal methods. Corporate, industrial, or economic espionage refers to illegal methods. What companies are at risk for corporate, industrial, or economic espionage? EVERY COMPANY However, larger and more successful firms that have considerable investments in Research and Development (R & D) are at higher risk.
Companies and/or foreign nations try to obtain trade secrets to gain a competitive advantage or gain a greater market share. Companies and/or foreign nations may use information and intelligence to negatively influence the reputation or public perception of a company.
What are some ways an unauthorized person or group could obtain trade secrets or protected information of a company? Can you think of any recent or monumental examples? What are some signs that show you and/or your company had information compromised? HACKING. Exploiting a computer system or network to gain unauthorized access to information. Considered one of the top methods and is rapidly increasing in popularity. SOCIAL ENGINEERING. The tricking of a person into revealing their password or other valuable corporate information.
LEGAL VERSUS ILLEGAL METHODS.
• Shoulder Surfing • Password Guessing
Companies and/or foreign nations may use legal and/or illegal methESPIONAGE AGENTS Categories of agents, infiltrators, or hackers include: Insiders: Employees or persons who have legitimate reason to access facilities, networks, or data. Outsiders: Spies or agents from outside the company. What people are the most likely to become agents? Why might they become agents? Companies must be particularly aware of defectors, former employees, and disgruntled employees. Money, revenge, and/ or ego fuel both outsiders and insiders.
2 0 NATIONAL PARAL EG A L R EPO RT ER ®
METHODS OF ESPIONAGE
• Pretending to be someone else like maintenance, someone new, someone from another office out of town, etc. AUDIO DEVICES Use of bugging, telephone tapping, and other methods to obtain information Examples of Audio Operations performed by professionals: • Trojan Horse • Quick Plant • Drilling Operations
