Industrial espionage or
corporate
espionage is
espionage conducted
for
commercial purposes instead of
national security purposes.
The term is distinct from legal and ethical activities such as
examining corporate publications,
websites,
patent filings, and the like to determine the
activities of a corporation (this is normally referred to as
competitive intelligence).
Theoreticallythe difference between espionage and legal information
gathering is clear. In practice,it is sometimes quite difficult to
tell the difference between legal and illegalmethods. Especially if
one starts to consider the ethical side of informationgathering,
the border becomes even more blurred and elusive of
definition.
Industrial espionage describes activities such as theft of
trade secrets,
bribery,
blackmail, and technological surveillance.
As well as spying on commercial organizations, governments can also
be targets of commercial espionage—for example, to determine the
terms of a tender for a government contract so that another
tenderer can underbid.
Industrial espionage is most commonly associated with
technology-heavy industries, particularly the
computer and
automobile sectors.
Espionage takes place in many forms. In short, the purpose of
espionage is to gather knowledge about (an) organization(s). A spy
may be hired, or may work for oneself.
Information
Information can make the difference between success and failure; if
a
trade secret is stolen, the
competitive playing field is levelled or even tipped in favor of a
competitor.
Although a lot of information gathering is accomplished by combing
through public records (public
databases
and
patent filings), at times corporations
feel the best way to get information is to take it. Corporate
espionage is a threat to any business whose livelihood depends on
information. The information competitors seek may be client lists,
supplier agreements, personnel
records,
research documents, or
prototype plans for a new product or service. The
compilation of these crucial elements is called CIS or CRS, a
Competitive
Intelligence Solution or
Competitive Response
Solution.
Other
In recent years, corporate espionage has taken on an expanded
definition. For instance, attempts to sabotage a corporation may be
considered corporate espionage; in this sense, the term takes on
the wider connotations of
its parent word.
In some cases,
malware and
spyware has even entered the arena of corporate
espionage.
[2119] [2120]
That espionage and
sabotage (corporate or
otherwise) have become more clearly associated with each other is
also demonstrated by a number of profiling studies, some
government, some corporate (such as this paper from the Software
Engineering Institute
[2121]). That the US Government currently has a
polygraph examination for the "Test of Espionage and Sabotage"
(TES)
[2122] is also demonstrative of the increasingly
popular (though not necessarily the group consensus) notion, by
those studying espionage and sabotage countermeasures, of the
interrelationship of the two. In practice, and particularly in
regards to 'trusted insiders', they are more often than not
considered functionally identical when it comes to the majority of
the countermeasures.
The
government of France
has been
alleged to have conducted ongoing industrial espionage against
American aerodynamics and satellite companies[2123] and vice versa. This list,
compiled from public sources over the last fifteen years of the
countries that are known to be customers of stolen U.S. technology:
Argentina, Brazil, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan,
Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Peoples Republic of China,
USSR(Russia), South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan.
The Clinton administration has been accused of shifting U.S.
intelligence assets from terrorism targets and toward economic
targets to "level the playing field" for U.S. companies competing
abroad.
References
Further reading
- Barry, Marc and Penenberg, Adam L. Spooked: Espionage in
Corporate America. Perseus Books Group, December 5, 2000. ISBN
0-7382-0271-1
- Fink, Steven. Sticky Fingers: Managing the Global Risk of
Economic Espionage. Dearborn Trade, January 15, 2002. ISBN
0-7931-4827-8
- Rustmann, F.W. Jr. CIA, INC.: Espionage and the Craft of
Business Intelligence. Potomac Books, November 2002. ISBN
1-57488-520-0
- Winker, Ira. Corporate Espionage: What It Is, Why It's
Happening in Your Company, What You Must Do About It. Prima
Lifestyles, April 9, 1997. ISBN 0-7615-0840-6
- Pitorri, Peter. Counterespionage for American Business.
Chicago: Butterworth-Heinemann Limited, 1998.
See also
External links
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