Showing posts with label trade secret. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trade secret. Show all posts

Monday, April 10, 2017

Siemens Employee Arrested in Netherlands for Business Espionage

Siemens said on Friday that an employee had been arrested in the Netherlands in a case which the country's financial crimes prosecutor said involved suspected espionage for a Chinese competitor...

He did not disclose which department the employee worked for or whether it was known if secrets had been leaked.

Click to enlarge.
Investigators said the man was detained on a train station platform as he was about to travel to China.

In addition to searching his baggage, they raided his home and workplace, seizing several digital memory devices.

Corporate espionage cases rarely come to light in the Netherlands. more

Friday, February 17, 2017

Coals to Newcastle Espionage (not just any coal)

A federal jury on Thursday convicted a Chinese scientist in Kansas of conspiring to steal samples of a variety of genetically engineered rice seeds from a U.S. research facility, the U.S. Justice Department said, the latest attempt at agricultural theft linked to China.

Weiqiang Zhang, 50, a Chinese national living in Manhattan, Kansas, was convicted on three counts, including conspiracy to steal trade secrets and interstate transportation of stolen property, the department said in a statement.

Zhang, who has a doctorate from Louisiana State University, worked as a rice breeder for Kansas-based Ventria Bioscience Inc, which develops genetically programmed rice used in the therapeutic and medical fields.

He stole hundreds of rice seeds produced by Ventria and stored them at his Manhattan residence, the statement said. more

Monday, January 23, 2017

Why the Spy Trade is Such a Booming Industry

The alleged Russian plot that targeted the U.S. presidential election has raised concerns we're headed for Cold War levels of spying, but there's actually plenty of evidence the world soared past that point years ago...

There are now an estimated 120 countries involved in espionage, each trying to infiltrate military, political and economic targets all over the world...

And those are just the official spy operations. Non-state and corporate spies have become much more active, not to mention rogue cyber warriors who sell their wares as independents and major organized crime and terror groups.

More threats, bigger budgets... more

Friday, January 20, 2017

Corporate Espionage: Chinese v. Chinese

Police have arrested Huawei’s six top executives for allegedly leaking vital information to its rival company, LeEco.

Huawei is one of the major phone makers in China...

Back in September 2013, HTC’s top executives had been arrested for stealing next generation software interface and were accused of selling them to the Chengdu city government. Those executives were jailed, and it was clearly one of the worst years for HTC.

Corporate espionage looks exciting in movies, but is certainly not pleasing when it is between leading companies. more

Sunday, January 8, 2017

The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) - Try Not to Need It

The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), signed into law on May 11, 2016 by President Obama, has received wide industry praise from manufacturers including Boeing, Caterpillar, Corning, Eli Lilly and Co., General Electric, Honda, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, ...

Government officials point out that trade secrets are worth $5 trillion to the U.S. economy, and losses can cost between $160 billion and $480 billion a year. Government data further points out that trade secrets comprise as much as 80 percent of the value of a company’s knowledge portfolio.

DTSA, which extends the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, essentially gives trade secret owners the option of using federal law to file trade secret lawsuits. Prior to DTSA, only state law authorized these lawsuits. more

It took too long to get this good law, but try not to need it. Once your secrets are out the damage is done. Besides, it's far cheaper to conduct regularly scheduled Information Security Surveys with TSCM to protect your information, than it is to go to court. (TSCM - Technical Surveillance Countermeasures, aka debugging sweep.) ~Kevin

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Alert Security Guard Nails Corporate Espionage Spy

South Korea - A senior official at Samsung Electronics Co. was arrested for trying to steal a core chip-making technology...


The international crime investigation unit at Gyeonggi Police Agency on Thursday arrested an unnamed executive vice president at Samsung Electronics of the semiconductor division on suspicion of committing industrial espionage.

A security guard at the company reportedly found confidential documents in his car during a routine security check.

The company immediately searched his house and called the police upon discovering thousands of classified documents he kept at his house. more

Monday, April 25, 2016

Edward Snowden Will Sue Norway

Edward Snowden will sue Norway in an attempt to secure free travel to the country, a Norwegian law firm representing him told Reuters Thursday.

The ex-contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has been invited to Norway to receive an award for his work defending free speech, but his attorneys said he is worried that traveling there would allow the Norwegian government to extradite him to the U.S., where he is wanted on charges of espionage.

The Norwegian branch of the global organization of writers PEN International, which hopes to give Snowden the free speech award, said in a statement that “we will do our utmost to ensure that Snowden may receive the prize in person.” more

Thursday, April 14, 2016

The C-Suite CRO – Chief Risk Officer

A growing number of organizations are adding a new member to the C-suite—the chief risk officer (CRO)—and the rise of these executives is having a direct impact on the security programs at enterprises. 

Corporate espionage, terrorism and cyber attacks are ratcheting up the need for senior executives who understand all aspects of risk management and security,” says Jeremy King, president of Benchmark Executive Search, a provider of technology executive search services.

“Many companies are finally awakening to how destructive security breaches of all types can be—from physical damage and real costs to reputation loss and customer recovery,” King says. “Previously siloed risk-management functions must be reinvented, strengthened, and funded more aggressively. Industry must re-evaluate its approach to risk management, and success will require unprecedented cooperation from board directors and those in the C-suite.” more

The Defend Trade Secrets Act

The Defend Trade Secrets Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Chris Coons, D-Delaware, passed the Senate with an 87-0 vote, and is expected to go to the House of Representatives within the next couple of months...

The Defend Trade Secrets Act, if passed, would allow companies who are victims of trade theft to go straight to federal court with the case. more

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

New Book - Industrial Espionage and Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM)

Industrial Espionage and Technical Surveillance Counter Measures 

Authors:
Iosif Androulidakis, Fragkiskos – Emmanouil Kioupakis
ISBN: 978-3-319-28665-5

This book examines technical aspects of industrial espionage and its impact in modern companies, organizations, and individuals while emphasizing the importance of intellectual property in the information era.

The authors discuss the problem itself and then provide statistics and real world cases. The main contribution provides a detailed discussion of the actual equipment, tools and techniques concerning technical surveillance in the framework of espionage. Moreover, they present the best practices and methods of detection (technical surveillance counter measures) as well as means of intellectual property protection. more

Recommended for corporate security directors. ~Kevin

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

What Makes a Trade Secret a Trade Secret?

Article 39 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) provides general guidance on necessary conditions for trade secrets:
  • The information must be secret (i.e. it is not generally known among, or readily accessible to, circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question);
  • It must have commercial value because it is a secret; and
  • It must have been subject to reasonable steps by the rightful holder of the information to keep it secret (e.g., through confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements, etc.). more
The "etc." part also includes providing extra security for the information, and the areas where it is generated, stored and used. Periodic Technical Surveillance Countermeasures inspections (TSCM) are a very important part of these conditions. Contact me for more information about this.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage

The following is from Jim Pooley’s new book on trade secrets — Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage.

Bankrupt networking giant Nortel reveals that its key executives’ email passwords were stolen and the company’s network hacked for a decade.

Boeing, hiring away Lockheed employees who bring documents to their new employer, pays $615 million to avoid criminal prosecution, while two of its former managers are indicted.

Apple scrambles to recover a sample of its unreleased new model iPhone that was left by an employee in a bar – a year after the same thing happened in a different bar.

Starwood employees leave to join Hilton, taking with them ideas for a new kind of hotel.

And the owner of Thomas’ English Muffins goes to court to protect its “nooks and crannies” recipe from being used by a competitor.

What do these corporate crises all have in common? Trade secrets. They reflect the enormous value of – and threats to – the most important assets of modern business...

Reading my new book — Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage — will give you a deeper understanding of how your business differentiates itself from the competition, and how it must work to keep its edge. As an executive or manager or small-business owner you will come away armed to protect and exploit your company’s advantages. As an individual you will have a greater appreciation for what intellectually belongs to you and how to use it to advance your career without being sued. And whatever your interest or line of work, you will have a much better understanding of how information has become the global currency of the 21st century.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Corporate Espionage: CBI Names PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Suspect

India - The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday named consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as a suspect in the corporate espionage case...

The Delhi Police had earlier last month arrested two more persons - one from the UPSC and the other from the Environment Ministry - broadening its probe into the corporate espionage case.

They were held for leaking sensitive documents to energy consultant Lokesh Sharma.

Around 17 people, including government employees, energy consultants and senior executives of top energy companies, have been arrested so far by the Delhi Police. more

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Business Espionage: GlobeRanger Awarded $15 million in Trade Secrets Espionage Case

Background
A lawsuit filed in state court Friday reads like a Hollywood script: It includes sex, deception and espionage in an alleged conspiracy to rob a Richardson company of its livelihood. (more)

The Verdict
According to a Nov. 28 court filing, on Nov. 20 a jury in federal court in Dallas awarded Richard, Texas-based GlobeRanger $15 million in a case that involved the misappropriation of trade secrets related to radio frequency identification technology.  

The case is GlobeRanger Corp. v. Software AG, 3:11-cv-00403, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas). (more)

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Adequately Protected Trade Secrets Can Keep You Out of Court... and a winner in court.

by Mark L. Krotoski, Esq.
Trade secrets can be among the most valuable assets a company has. According to one study, "Two thirds of enterprises’ information portfolio value comes from the secrets they create."


One trade secret can lead to many products. As a unique form of intellectual property, trade secrets can be vital not only to a company and its employees, but also to other jobs, investments, an industry, the economy and, depending on the trade secrets, even national security.

Two Key Questions for Trade Secret Owners
Given the importance of trade secrets, trade secret owners should ask two key questions:
(1) How many trade secrets do you have?
(2) Are your trade secrets adequately protected?

Many companies have trade secrets which can generate substantial value for the company. Regrettably, experience has shown that large and small companies have not taken the steps necessary to protect them. When the unexpected misappropriation occurs, it is clearly too late...

A culture of protection can establish the tone within the company to safeguard the trade secrets. A layered approach to security has proven effective in past cases to mitigate any misappropriation and to establish the reasonableness of the security measures. An objective assessment of the measures safeguarding the trade secrets can assist in determining the reasonableness u der trade secret law. Most importantly, companies should develop a trade secret protection plan in advance of any misappropriation.
So, as a trade secret owner, how do you answer the two questions? How confident are you that your trade secrets are reasonably protected and will survive court scrutiny if that ever becomes necessary? (more)

If you need help answering these questions, call me. An information security evaluation by an independent outside specialist can help with answers and will count toward fulfilling the adequacy requirement.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Tunnel Vision Focus on IT Security - The Biggest Mistake...

...companies make when securing sensitive data.

FACTS

• All pre-computer era information theft tactics still work, and are still used.
• Most “computerized” information is available long before it is put into a computer.

• Data theft is the low hanging fruit of the business espionage world. The real pros use ladders.


Murray's Holistic Approach to Information Security

1. Protect information while it is being generated (discussions, audio and video communications, strategy development). Conduct Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) inspections of offices and conference rooms on a scheduled basis. Example: Ford Motors found voice recorders hidden in seven of their conference rooms this summer.

2. Protect information while it is in transit (phone, teleconference, Board meetings, off-site conferences). Wiretapping and Wi-Fi are still very effective spy tools. Check for wiretaps on a scheduled basis, and/or encrypt the transmissions. Conduct pre-meeting TSCM inspections. Tip: Never let presenters use old technology FM wireless microphones. The signal travels further than you think, and is easily intercepted.

3. Protect how information is stored. Unlocked offices, desk and file cabinets are a treasure trove of the freshest information. Print centers store a copy of all print jobs. Limit written distribution of sensitive information. Crosscut shred sensitive waste paper. All these vulnerabilities and more should be covered during the security survey portion of your TSCM inspection.

4. Educate the people to whom sensitive information is entrusted. Security briefings don’t have to be long and tedious. Establish basic rules and procedures. Explain the importance of information security in terms they can understand, e.g. “Information is business blood. If it stays healthy and in the system, your job, and chances for advancement, stay healthy.”

Effective information security requires a holistic protection plan. IT security is an important part of this plan, but it is only one door to your house of information.
 
There is more you need to know. Contact a TSCM specialist for further assistance. (counterespionage.com)

Friday, September 12, 2014

Business Espionage - "Morticia, they've kidnapped Thing!"

T-Mobile US sued Huawei for corporate espionage, alleging that the vendor's employees illegally photographed and tried to steal parts of a robot it developed in its labs, called "Tappy," to test cell phones.

Tappy's Grandfather
The lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Seattle, claims that two Huawei employees gained illicit access to its lab in Bellevue, Wash., photographed the robotic arm, tried to smuggle parts of it out of the lab, and then tried to sneak back in after they were banned from the facility...

In 2012 and 2013, the suit claims, Huawei employees engaged in the subterfuge. At one point, the suit alleges, a Huawei engineer put one of the robot's simulated fingertips into his laptop bag. Huawei "ultimately admitted that its employees misappropriated parts and information about T-Mobile's robot," the suit says. (more)

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Start Protecting Your Trade Secrets - Yes, You Have Trade Secrets

Every company has information, business methods or techniques or a unique service delivery model that has competitive value worth protecting. Some information, processes and techniques may benefit from patent, trademark or copyright protection, but there is a much broader universe of your company's R&D, business analysis and process improvement that is potentially protectable as a trade secret.

The first step in securing that protection is to identify your trade secrets. Once trade secrets have been identified, you can then design documents and procedures to maximize the available protections and to preserve the value of your business. 

Protectable trade secrets may be found in many aspects of your business. Common examples could include your marketing strategies, key analysis of your customers' purchasing habits and preferences, proprietary statistical models and the terms of your strategic alliances with business partners. 

Less obvious, but no less important, examples could include an innovative risk management strategy, unique processes to continuously evaluate and improve the delivery of your products and services, or methodologies to assist in evaluating and responding to RFPs. (more)

Before you discuss all these things, make sure the room is not bugged. The folks at counterespionage.com can help.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

FBI Citizens Academy - Hey, corporate America, turn around and pay attention.

“The top secret, government, political secrets, all that top secret stuff that you kind of think about spies, probably less than 10% of what they are trying to go after.” 

FBI experts say that 90% of what they go after, is industrial and trade secret espionage, and the target: students and executives from companies traveling abroad carrying trade secrets from their research and development at universities and companies.. And it's highly sought after.

“Every company, your research and development, it’s your next product down the road, and if I can steal that information and beat you to the market it's going to be devastating for you as a company.” (more) (video)

Friday, July 11, 2014

Business Espionage: White Pigment Spy Sentenced by Judge White

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a California chemical engineer to 15 years in prison and fined him $28.3 million for a rare economic-espionage conviction for selling China a secret recipe to a widely used white pigment.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland said Liew, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had "turned against his adopted country over greed." (more)