Recognising Corporate Espionage While Travelling

Espionage occupies a unique and somewhat glamorous place in the public imagination. However, the reality couldn’t be further from this perception. An effective economic espionage operation is not only costly to the victim corporation, but can also severely damage business and international ties.

Corporate espionage is an increasingly prevalent threat for business travellers. In many countries the activities of the government intelligence services extend to collecting intelligence that will strategically benefit their business community.

Below are my five top tips to mitigate the risk from corporate espionage:

Acknowledge: The single most important preventative measure against corporate espionage is accepting and acknowledging espionage occurs, and anyone can fall victim to it
Reduce Sensitive Material: If travelling to a country that is high-risk with respect to espionage, it should be assumed that any information – electronic or paperbased - will be read, copied and stored. While it is nearly impossible to identify whether the information has been accessed, assuming all materials will be read reduces the risk of loss of sensitive information
Be Discreet: When travelling, be discreet about work and personal information. This information can be used to socially engineer or extract sensitive information from you at a later stage by foreign players
Understand Conversations Are Not Private: When travelling to a high-risk country be aware that your conversations may not be private, even if taken in a private surrounding such as a hotel room or office. Sensitive conversations should occur once you return to your home country
Don’t Use Shared Computers: Be wary of using shared computers, such as those provided in airport lounges, internet cafes and hotel lobbies. All activity on these computers may be recorded, stored and used as intelligence or used to gain further information in the future

For further information download this FREE report: Recognising Corporate Espionage While Travelling. This high-level report identifies how to mitigate against the threat from corporate espionage, identify actors of espionage and indicators that may suggest you have been targeted.

For more information regarding corporate espionage, download a Travel Security Insight eBook for the country you are traveling to. Our Travel Security Insights highlight the key risks presented to travellers while in country. The e-books are location-specific with respect to risk rating and provide detailed threat analysis, risk mitigation recommendations, security contact details and up-to-date information on emerging situations.

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