Stealing Secrets
Last fall, I watched the French film, “Farewell”(L’ Affaire Farewell), which tells the story of Soviet spy who decides to turn over Russian secrets to the West via a French contact. As the film unfolds, we discover the “secrets” are thousands of documents that details a Russian spy network focused on scientific, industrial and technical information. An elaborate network of spies had infiltrated businesses, science labs and governments facilities for research information, technological developments, proprietary business secrets. This cold war was not simply about bombs, but economics and business.
Farewell is based on the activities of Vladimir Vetrov, a Russian spy who exposed a network of spies stealing “intellectual property” from our government and businesses alike (For more background, read the CIA Dossier). This film reveals a looming threat for businesses and governments around the world. While security is often focused on guarding customer assets like social security or other personal information, intellectual property theft is becoming a major focus of cyberthieves.
In a report on Intellectual Property (IP) last year, CSO suggested that is a serious threat for businesses around the world. They wrote,
The next big target for cyber-criminals, state govern- ments, organized crime and hackers is IP. One stolen manufacturing process can be worth millions in saved development costs or billions in market share. Estimates show that IP theft costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars a year, while robbing it of jobs and lost tax revenues. The threat from emerging economies is of particular concern, as laws can be lax and enforcement more difficult. [1]
CSO three common categories of IP loss including:
- Insiders Attacks
- State-sponsored Attacks
- Counterfeiting/Piracy Attacks
Insider Attacks – From disgruntled employees to intentional plants by competitors, insider attacks are a common threat to all businesses (from SMBs to Enterprise). A software engineer for AOL stole and sold 30 million AOL customers names and addresses to spammers. An employee for Corning, Inc. found company trade secrets in a device that was to be scrapped. Instead of reporting it, he sold it to a foreign competitor. Sometimes an employee may unwittingly aid an attack as a result of social engineering (for more insights read Defend Against Social Engineering).
State-Sponsored Attacks – I started this article discussing a state-sponsoring attack on business and science by the Soviets in the late 70s. CSO’s report suggests that a 2005 announcement by the Russian Prime Minister amounted to a public acknowledgement that state continued to participate in state-sponsored commercial espionage.
Counterfeiting/Piracy Attacks – While piracy may seem to be limited to DVDs and youth illegally downloading songs, but the real impact is far more serious. According the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, counterfeiting/piracy accounts for 5 percent to 7 percent of the global economy. As a result, the United States has lost more 750,000 and $250 billion in sales.
Stealing secrets can impact any size business. The challenge is developing a security strategy that involves training, anticipation, infrastructure, governance, and a range of protocols for incoming and departing employees. As the week proceeds, I revisit this topic by considering ”The Challenge of Guarding Ideas.”
[1] The Ultimate Guide to Intellectual Property Protection. CSO Magazine. June 6, 2012
2013-01-07 19:48:22
Source: http://blog.integracon.com/2013/01/07/stealing-secrets/
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