Industrial Espionage: China & Russia Escalate

Image via Wikipedia

The major part of espionage used to be scientific and political intelligence. Today it is economics and technology. To keep pace with a rapidly changing world the Chinese and Russians have escalated their efforts to learn what makes our economic system function even under severe duress. What makes our system bend and not break. Or what will make our system break and not bend.

Industrial spy's are everywhere, the most effective are employed in major US firms or have recruited employees from those firms. Who doesn't need a little extra cash these days and what better way to earn it than tell someone everything you know about the systems and procedures in place at work. After all, it doesn't cost anything to do and you get to speak at length about subjects no one else has an interest in.

Far from boring, you will be the center of attention for weeks, maybe months or years depending on what you know and what you can learn from your employer.

Both China and Russia have had great success in recruiting American citizens but its not one- sided. We do the same thing in their countries and have been pretty successful too. In fact, our success depends largely on China and Russia being able to infiltrate American companies. Once we know who the spies are we can feed them with disinformation or misinformation. In this manner, we can create extensive delays, possibly years, before they discover the information is incorrect and has no value.

Eventually, as a spy you will have outlived your usefulness and will be discarded in any number of ways depending on the level of intelligence you have provided. It is not rare for entire families to be eliminated as a result of discarding a spy of little present value but who may, in the future, become an unnecessary link or embarrassment.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is smaller than its military intelligence service but is the successor to that part of the Soviet KGB that handled economic matters. The head of the unit, Mikhail Fradkov, is a former Prime Minister and economics expert appointed by former President Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB spy during the Cold War.

Not only big firms are affected, but also increasingly small and middle-sized companies. The US is therefore urging firms to increase their protection against industrial espionage.

Sphere: Related Content