Countering industrial and economic espionage
Protecting know-how, bids and decisions against foreign intelligence services, competitors and insiders.
Economic espionage by foreign states and spying by competitors aim at the same thing: knowledge a company has built up over years. Austria is a preferred location for this – with many technology-leading mid-sized companies, international organisations and short distances.
An attack rarely comes through a single channel. Perpetrators usually combine technical means with access through people: employees, business partners, visitors or service providers.
Threats to your company
- Loss of research results, design data, formulas and source code
- Spying on bids, prices and negotiating positions ahead of tenders, acquisitions or contracts
- Insiders: employees who are recruited, put under pressure, or take data with them when they join a competitor
- Targeted approaches at trade fairs, delegation trips, joint ventures, internships and career networks
- Technical eavesdropping on meeting rooms, vehicles and mobile phones
- Attacks through suppliers and service providers with access to your premises or systems
Typical problems
- Espionage often goes undetected for years. The damage only shows when a competitor launches a strikingly similar product.
- Protective measures are mostly purely technical. People remain the open door.
- Nobody is clearly responsible: IT, legal and management pass the issue back and forth.
- Out of concern for reputation, incidents are not reported. That means no investigation and no secured evidence.
- Legally, information only counts as a trade secret if the company can prove reasonable protective measures. Without them, there is often no claim against the perpetrator.
Financial consequences
- Loss of competitive advantage and of the returns on years of development
- Lost tenders and contracts because a competitor knows your bid
- Price erosion from cheaper copies in your markets
- Costs of investigation, forensics, litigation and redevelopment
- A weaker position in financing, valuation or sale of the company
- Liability risks for management if reasonable protective measures were missing
Our approach
- Clarify what needs protection: which information is critical, who knows it, where is it kept?
- Assess the threats: who is interested – states, competitors, insiders – and through which channel?
- Develop a protection concept: organisational, personnel and technical, tailored to your business.
- Implement measures: for example counter-surveillance, rules for visitors and travel, awareness for executives.
- In case of suspicion: discreet investigation, securing evidence, coordination with lawyers and authorities.
A suspicion is best clarified early.
Tell us about your concern. We will get back to you personally and confidentially.