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Industrial Espionage and Digital Forensics

By: James Walsh

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The data that is obtained through this process is used for theft and other purposes such as bribery, blackmail etc. Let us have a look at the type of data that the culprits usually steal.

Type of Data that is Stolen during Industrial Espionage

  • The criminals may try to steal the trade secrets of a particular company such as its various transactions. The data regarding the strategies that a company intends to implement in the near future can be used by the rival companies to implement similar strategies and thus cause the targeted company a large amount of loss.


  • The data regarding the various new products that the company may have launched or is planning to launch may also be stolen.


  • The espionage may involve data regarding the various researches that a company has carried out, the list of clients of a particular company, the records of the company’s personnel etc.


  • The espionage may also involve sabotage rather than theft of data i.e. the culprits may try to introduce virus or some such malicious software into the company’s server in order to destroy the various records that may be present on it.


How Computers Make Industrial Espionage Easier

With the technological advances in the previous few years, many companies have started making use of computers for data storage. They may make use of technologies such as the internet in order to share the data and make it available to the different branches of the company.

Thus, individuals who have some amount of expertise in the use of computers may try to hack into the servers of the company and obtain information. To prevent such theft of data, many companies make use of firewalls and also hire data security firms. This can provide some amount of security against espionage depending on the quality of the software or the firm hired.

Another method of data theft is by making use of portable data storage media. Many companies carelessly store sensitive data on computers that can be accessed easily by individuals not belonging to the company. Thus, people from outside the firm browse the concerned computer and copy the required data onto the flash drive or a similar data storage device. Similarly, such individuals may try to introduce a virus into the system by making use of a portable data storage device.

To prevent such access of data, most companies make use of a software that keeps a log of the times when specified files present on the computer have been accessed. They may even make use of encryption of data and prevent access to the sensitive data by making use of password protection. They can even disable the USB ports that are present on the computer and thus prevent the use of such devices.

Digital Forensics

Hiring a digital forensic agency can prove to be of great help in tracking the culprits who are responsible for industrial espionage. The forensic experts make use of various techniques to gather evidence regarding the identity of the culprit.

Some of these techniques are as follows:

  • If the experts are successful in tracking down the computer that was used to access the data, then they can find a large amount of evidence by analysing the different parts of the machine. For example, if the computer is found in an active state then, there is the possibility that some data is still present on the RAM of the computer. Scanning the registry of the computer, the different log files etc. may also provide the investigators with useful information.


  • The surroundings of the computer may have some evidence such as some printouts, CDs, flash drives, notes etc.


  • If some email was responsible for introduction of a virus into the concerned company’s server, then analysis of the headers of the same may provide some information regarding the identity of the criminal.


  • The analysis of the open ports on the computer can provide information regarding the various connections that the criminal may have sought.


While performing such tasks, the investigator needs to be careful and should not modify the data that is present on the hard drive of the computer in any manner. Thus, by the advancements in digital forensics, the criminal responsible for espionage can be tracked in many of the cases.

However, it is better for the companies to take adequate measures and prevent the theft of data in order to avoid any complications in the future that can even destroy the business.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. For more information on computer crime and Computer Forensics see www.fieldsassociates.co.uk

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