Information to security

The threat of information attacks against government, corporations, and university systems is well established. Almost every day, the media reports a new computer virus, denial of service attack, or theft of credit card information from an e-commerce Web site.

We read about cases of industrial espionage such as Borland accusing Symantec of stealing trade secrets, Cadence Design Systems filing a suit charging the theft of source code by a competitor. Many business people read these stories and think it could never happen at their company.

 VARIATION ON A SCHEME

The ruse described in the following tale has probably been pulled off many times, even though it sounds like something taken out of a Hollywood movie like The Insider, or from the pages of a John Grisham novel.

THE NEW BUSINESS PARTNER

Social engineers have a big advantage over con men and grifters, and the advantage is distance. A grifter can only cheat you by being in your presence, allowing you to give a good description of him afterward or even call the cops if you catch on to the ruse early enough.

Social engineers ordinarily avoid that risk like the plague. Sometimes, though, the risk is necessary, and justified by the potential reward.

LEAPFROG

A challenge: The following story does not involve industrial espionage. As you read it, see if you can understand why I decided to put it in this chapter!

Harry Tardy was back living at home, and he was bitter. The Marine Corps had seemed like a great escape until he washed out of boot camp. Now he had returned to the hometown he hated, was taking computer courses at the local community college, and looking for a way to strike out at the world.

PREVENTING THE CON

Industrial espionage, which has long been a challenge to businesses, has now become the bread and butter of traditional spies who have focused their efforts on obtaining company secrets for a price, now that the Cold War has ended. Foreign governments and corporations are now using freelance industrial spies to steal information. Domestic companies also hire information brokers who cross the line in their efforts to obtain competitive intelligence. In many cases these are former military spies turned industrial information brokers who have the prerequisite knowledge and experience to easily exploit organizations, especially those that have failed to deploy safeguards to protect their information and educate their people.