Ah the ‘Dog Days’ of August! Give me a hot, sunny day, a comfortable lawn chair and a really good spy novel, and I’ll get lost for hours. But who needs books these days? A recent article about corporate espionage in USA Today reveals a wealth of true-life – and often truly bizarre tales. Move over James Bond, the company janitor has cool gadgets too!
Did you hear the one about Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where the CEO of its management group was accused of hiring a former CIA agent to infiltrate PETA? The case was later dismissed due to questionable legalities, but it certainly illustrates how far some organizations will go in the name of protecting themselves.
Corporate spying and corporate security are both Big Businesses, with companies of all sizes getting hit in the crossfire. The emergence of spyware and anti-spyware monitoring tools, and expert consultation on both sides of the fence, has also become Big Business. Organizations like the SANS Institute are focusing their training on topics like ethical hacking, reverse-engineering malware and perimeter protection. Employers are taking greater measures to control data leakage by monitoring their employees’ email content and Internet usage. But where is all of this leading? How far do organizations have to go to protect themselves?
I welcome your thoughts.
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