One of the most significant long term threats facing the nation is economic espionage.  Agents employed by foreign governments or foreign competitors are actively using any and every opportunity to penetrate corporations and academic research institutions to steal both classified and unclassified research, development and technology.  Identified as a rapidly growing threat, the U.S. Government simply doesn’t have the capabilities to protect corporations from the large numbers of seemingly benign researchers, students, and businesspersons exploited by foreign entities.

Though most major U.S. corporations have first-rate security programs with state of the art systems and technology, the only thing accomplished is the protection of the physical integrity of corporate operations.  The knowledge and information in the possession of their employees, which is of the greatest value to corporations and the target for those trying to steal from them, is largely unprotected and remains a major vulnerability.

The FBI has specifically requested that industry play a leading role in mobilizing itself to better understand the threat, put in place mitigation programs, and work closely with the government in exchanging threat information, thereby creating an unprecedented collaborative effort.  To aid in this effort, CSM is assisting companies to develop corporate counterintelligence programs and training to further expedite this goal.

For further information, see our Corporate Counterintelligence and Information Sharing Pilot Project.