Corporate Espionage or Intellectual Property Theft

IF your business's proprietary information has monetary value, it may be a target. Business information theft is prevalent and invisible, and is getting easier and more lucrative considering today's technology, and extremely competitive corporate climate. Threats include compromised trade and patent secrets, hacked company networks, employees using company assets to start competing businesses, or colluding with competitors.

With the huge advancements in technology over recent years, data theft is the new 'invisible' crime and poses a real threat to all businesses. Because employees have access to vast amounts of data, that sensitive information is vulnerable in the hands of a dishonest employee.

Email address books, sales proposals and presentations, customer databases, and contact details are the most common kinds of data taken. Businesses might be losing commercially sensitive information worth thousands of dollars.  This crime has no level It’s happening in all businesses and through all levels of the company, from lowly admin staff right up to senior board level.

What is your information worth? The business critical information of your company. This includes the client list, your charging rates for services or goods, your borrowings, your strategic plan, your financial data, the nature of the contracts of your key people and your perceived competitive advantage relative to your business rivals in the market-place. So, what is that sort of information worth? We will approach the issue from a risk management point of view in the next post...