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The 21st Century is often referred to as the information age; the developing global marketplace has contributed to the entrance of new cultures and economies into the competitive global economy. Due to globally available infrastructure and the development of global telecom- munication/ iοη/co rn- put íng capabilities, it has enabled indi- viduals, companies and countries to compete globally on a level playing field with traditional Western powers even from some of the most remote parts of the world. Unfortunately this has also created conditions m which the threat of corporate espionage has been rapidly pro- liferating due to the ease threat actors can ply their trade both through physical and virtual actions against U.S. corporations.
It is becoming routine to hear about corporate/state-sponsored espionage cases in the media. Annual losses to corporate espionage are estimated to be at $300 bil- lion annually, which would be comparable to all of the United States exports to Asia annually. Think about that for a moment - $300 billion annually...The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were estimated at a total of $62 billion in physical asset and insurance loss which pales m comparison to the annual espionage loss in the U.S.
According to the Brookings Institute: as much as 65+ percent of most companies value, sources of revenue, sustainability and growth lie m information assets, intellectual property (IP) and proprietary competitive advantages. It is important to acknowledge that in the 21st century the essential risk to corporations is the protection of these information based assets from the threat of corporate espionage.
Corporate or economic espionage simply stated is the unlawful theft/acquisition of intellectual property, such as key trade secret and patent information as well as industrial manufacturing techniques and processes, ideas and formulas. Or it could also include sequestration of proprietary or operational information, such as that on customer data, sales, pricing, research and development, policies, prospective bids, planning or mar- keting strategies, or the changing composi- tions and locations of production. Basically it could involve anything that gives your business an advantage m the marketplace and what makes your business successful.
Proprietary Information/ Intellectual Property identification
What always amazes me is how unaware some corporations are of what sources of information are actually critical to their corporate success and...