Counterespionage Solutions
Ensuring the Integrity of your Confidential Information
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Competitive intelligence gathering is a necessary part of today’s business environment. The more information you have, the better the strategic business decisions you make for your organisation.
Most corporations have a continuous process of collecting information, whether it’s reviewing a competitor’s marketing strategy by examining its product literature and websites, to analysing its pricing strategies and monitoring its patent applications. To stay competitive, it is imperative that organisations fully understand the market in which it operates and these are legitimate and ethical methods for keeping abreast of how the market and your competitors are evolving.
However, there is a darker side to competitive intelligence gathering industrial espionage!
Industrial or commercial espionage covers questionable and illegal methods of collecting information on a competitor. Tactics employed might include the installation of a bugging device, insider infiltration, social engineering, and dumpster diving and cyber attacks.
Whilst few cases of industrial espionage ever make it into the public domain (not many companies want to admit that they have been victim or that their security is not up to par) there are a number of high profile cases which underline the lengths that some companies will go to in order to obtain a competitive advantage.
Marks and Spencer
In 2004, Marks and Spencer investigated an apparent attempt to spy on the mobile phone records of its boss Stuart Rose during a bid to take over the high street chain from Bhs and Top Shop entrepreneur Philip Green.
British Airways / Virgin
Back in the early 1990’s British Airways was ordered to pay over £3million to Virgin over a dirty-tricks campaign after BA employees were found to have been poaching Virgin customers and tampering with confidential company files.
Unilever / Proctor & Gamble
A private investigator employed by Proctor and Gamble had rifled through the bins of Unilever and had found information relating to Unilveler’s plans for the shampoo market. During the time, both companies were involved in a bid for the Clairol hair care brand. Unilever threatened legal action and it is reported that P& G made an out of court settlement of some $10m.
Renault
In early 2011, Renault suspended three senior managers after an investigation into the possible leaking of electric vehicle secrets. Whilst it turned out to be a hoax, at the time Renault took the threat extremely seriously saying that it threatened the company’s ‘strategic assets’.
These four cases go some way to indicating just how common covert activity has become and highlights the risks that organisations face from industrial spying. They also demonstrate that espionage attacks are not limited to government or defence companies. Industrial espionage can and is used in almost every industry sectors from retail, to automobile, and from pharmaceutical to sport.
If you have concerns surrounding the integrity of your information or would like to discuss how Esoteric can help detect your vulnerabilities and take action to mitigate against them, call us today on +44 (0) 1483 740723 or contacts us here.
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