A company's equity goes far beyond the items that are used and stored by it. The methods, strategies and knowledge used to ensure their continuity should be protected as well as any type of property within a business. For this reason, it is very important for companies to protect their intellectual heritage against industrial espionage.
Industrial espionage is nothing more than obtaining confidential data or information from companies, with the aim of gaining advantages or applying any type of scam. Theft of this type of information can cause numerous damage to business and may even make the company have to end its activities.
But how can a company deal with this problem and ensure the protection of your entire intellectual property? Understand how industrial espionage works how to protect itself from this dangerous threat.
Do you know what industrial espionage is?
Of course, industrial espionage is a practice performed clandestinely. When this type of problem happens, managers are unlikely to realize that the information is being stolen , and in most cases, the company only realizes that it suffered from this kind of threat when the consequences begin to appear.
This type of practice can be done in different ways, making this threat a great risk to business. For many years, industrial espionage happened in person, that is: criminals or competing companies sent people to obtain information illicitly, and used this data to ensure their advantages.
This means that to obtain this information, criminals sent service providers until the establishment or enlisted the employees of this business. For this reason, realizing this kind of problem has always been extremely difficult .
With the advancement of technology, industrial espionage has reached an even more dangerous level and can be performed through malicious applications and software. Here are some forms of industrial espionage that are very applied today:
Image capture
In this case, the sent spy accesses the company and can view documents, files and information, photographing and capturing images of them. For this, he can count on the help of employees to gain access to information and steal data , such as strategies, accounting information, customer data, and more.
Cyberpion
Through this strategy, industrial espionage happens in the digital environment. Cybercriminals are able to install malicious software or invas the systems of a company to be able to access your most precious data and pass this information to those interested.
Espionage through listening
In this case, the goal is to record conversations and discover strategies implemented by a business through listening. For this, it needs to have access to the company and install devices or use software on computers, company smartphones to capture audio data.
We know that finding out whether any collaborator is helping or conniving with any threat is virtually impossible. For this reason, it is very important for the company to use security tools that help keep its devices protected and avoid contamination by malicious software, such as Spyware.
How can this leakage harm your business?
The main problem caused by industrial espionage is related to the loss of customers and suppliers. A very famous case of industrial espionage has reached one of the largest multinationals on the planet, Coca-Cola. In the 1990s, the market giant was the victim of an attempted industrial espionage by the competing company, Pepsi.
Pepsi's goal was to increase its size and reach an even larger slice of the beverage and soda market. By gaping a very small slice on the market, approximately 6% (while Coca-Cola dominated half the market), she used this strategy to try to obtain important data from the company.
However, his espionage plan was discovered by a sound technician who reported the approach and referred the information to a partner of Coca-Cola in São Paulo. Thanks to a fast action, Coca-Cola was able to avoid the loss of their information and avoid the main consequences that could have been caused by the acting of the competing company.
The result is that Pepsi obtained a considerable drop in the market and was eventually sold. See other cases of industrial espionage that have been well known in recent years.
This type of example demonstrates how important it is for the company to count on an action protocol and document management strategies. Many companies depend on this type of data to be able to stay active and ensure their growth and competitive differential.
For a company, losing information because of industrial espionage, in addition to impairing its growth and development, can also have a very negative impact on its image to the market and consumers .
Is it possible to protect my data?
Cyber security has become a priority for companies of all sizes and segments. There are many threats that can impact the continuity of a business and make a company suffer numerous damage to the market. Increased competitiveness also brought with it a great growth in industrial spy victims, causing valuable loss of data to maintain a business.
A successful company needed a long journey to achieve its market space , developing quality products, building a large chain of suppliers and establishing strategies that help stay at the top. The leakage of this type of information for competing companies has extremely negative impacts.
Thus, we can understand the importance of establishing strategies to protect your data and avoid this approach. Here are some tips we have prepared for you to protect your business:
Invest in the training of your employees
As we have seen, industrial espionage can be favored by the collusion of employees of the company itself. To avoid this kind of problem, it is essential that the company builds a culture of knowledge and appreciation for employees to understand the importance of industrial property and how it is responsible for the development and growth of a business.
Your employees need to understand that company data is extremely important and should be protected as well as any other type of assets. There are some care that should be taken on a daily basis to avoid creating a vulnerability points in a company's networks and devices. And the more prepared your team is, the less chance and carelessness will happen.
Invest in Digital Security
There are several features and tools that can be used to increase digital security within your business. In addition to having protective tools such as antivirus and firewall, it is also important to implement a blockage and internet access control feature .
This tool is very necessary because most cyber threats are planted as a trap on various websites and platforms. Scams such as phishing , ransomware and spyware can reach your company because of imprisonment behavior of employees.
Store your data in a safe environment
Cloud technology has brought numerous benefits to our reality. Through it, we start running programs and applications in a virtual environment, without the need to install files on the computer, ensuring easy and simplified access to all employees.
This technology also allowed the data to be stored in this environment, bringing more security and practicality to the daily life of the organization. However, although it is a very efficient technology, it is necessary to have protective tools to keep this data away from the access of undue people.
Technology to your advantage in data security
We know that the digital environment is full of threats that can undermine the continuity of your business and expose valuable information. Industrial espionage is a very present reality, and it is necessary for your company to count on the most efficient features and tools on the market to ensure that your company protects itself.
Your defense strategy should rely on the best technologies to ensure that confidential information is better protected. In addition to having security resources to block such threats, it is also essential to adopt strategies to prevent the creation of vulnerability points.
Since it is virtually impossible to predict the behavior of your employees within the digital environment, using an access control tool and blocking certain pages and resources on the Internet is indispensable. This way you will be able to keep your business safer and prevent your business more valuable data from being exposed to competitors or cybercriminals.
Lumiun Internet Security has great market tools to avoid unwanted access and ensure greater protection of your company's intellectual property. With our solution, you can minimize the risks of industrial espionage in a simplified and intelligent way.
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