Ten Things Corporate Spies Don’t Want You to Do

The recent blowup at HP should remind every business executive that an entire industry exists to steal your corporate secrets.

The world of corporate spies is a booming business for both foreign and domestic clientele.

Some are ethical and some are not but every business should take steps to protect their confidential information from falling into the wrong hands.

10 Things Corporate Spies Don’t Want You To Do At Your Company

1) Shred your documents 

This seems easy and obvious but the dumpster is still the first stop for a corporate spy because it is a treasure trove of confidential information. If you make shredding easy more people will do it. Hire a shredding company and have locked shredding bins in convenient places around the office.

2) Require authentication before giving out information

You have trained your employees to be helpful but this can be the weak link in your armor. Corporate spies use a technique called pretexting or impersonating someone to talk their way into you sending them the sensitive information.

Before giving out information have a process in place to authenticate the caller.

3) Secure your wireless network

Wireless networks make it easy to access information from anywhere in the office but it can also make it easy for a corporate spy in the parking lot. Make sure your enable the security on your wi-fi.

4) Require badges and escorts for all visitors

The first rule of security is know who is in your building. With thumb drives and an open terminal a visitor could copy volumes of information and then data-mine it at their leisure. Never leave contractors or repairmen unsupervised.

5) Extend your security to your executive’s homes

A corporate spy knows who your key employees are and where they live. They will often go to their homes and in and effort to gain access to their wireless network or steal their trash.

6) Encrypt the data on all laptops

With the rash of laptops being lost and stolen you would think that companies would limit the information that is taken out of the building.

7) Check with the satellites

Using satellite images is no longer the sacred domain of the CIA. Manufacturers will get satellite photos of their competitors to see how many trucks or rail cars they have in their plant. If you know what is going out, you know the sales.

8) Update your firewalls

Although not as common as other methods, a computer hacker can be tremendous source of information for your competitors. You should minimize the access points into your network and make sure you are running an updated firewall.

9) Skip that brainstorming session at the local lunch counter

Ever wondered who is in the next booth at lunch or who the friendly person is on the train? It is easy to figure out where the popular restaurants are near your business. Corporate spies simply get a table next to yours at lunch.

Or even better, buy the napkins and paper tablecloths from the busboy after you leave. Engineers will often leave schematics they are brainstorming over lunch.

10) Run background checks on all employees

Low level employees often still have access to confidential information. The cleaning staff or mail room employee is a great source of information.

Corporate spies pay these employees to bring out papers left out.

An applicant with a criminal past is much more likely to take the payoff.