A Growing Problem..

Industrial espionage or corporate espionage is espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of national security purposes.

The term is distinct from legal and ethical activities such as examining corporate publications, websites, patent filings, and the like to determine the activities of a corporation (this is normally referred to as competitive intelligence). Theoretically the difference between espionage and legal information gathering is clear. In practice, it is quite difficult to sometimes tell the difference between legal and illegal methods. Especially if one starts to consider the ethical side of information gathering, the border becomes even more blurred and elusive of definition.

Industrial espionage describes activities such as theft of trade secrets, bribery, blackmail, and technological surveillance. As well as spying on commercial organizations, governments can also be targets of commercial espionage—for example, to determine the terms of a tender for a government contract so that another tenderer can underbid.

Industrial espionage is most commonly associated with technology-heavy industries, particularly the computer and automobile sectors.

Espionage takes place in many forms. In short, the purpose of espionage is to gather knowledge about (an) organization(s). A spy may be hired, or may work for oneself.

 

 

Wiretapping

The increased availability of the telephone wiretapping devices available through spy shops and electronics stores has taken wiretapping to another level. While it can clearly be augured that wiretapping was technically easier to accomplish in the past, the availability of phone tap devices was fairly limited. Today, you can order a phone wiretap from hundreds of various retail and Internet spy shops and spy stores.

Wiretaps are also much more difficult to install than most radio bugs. However, the type of eavesdropping device selected will usually depend on the type of information the eavesdropper is seeking. Does he or she want to hear what is going on in the bedroom or boardroom, or do they need to know both sides of the target's phone conversations. Hmmm, to wiretap or to bug - that is the question.

Wiretapping devices are typically much more difficult to detect than other eavesdropping methods and most phone tap detectors are a complete waste of money if you genuinely believe your phone lines are tapped. The same is true with calling the phone company and asking them to check your lines. Professional and even most amateur wiretappers could install dozens of telephone taps on your line and no equipment or Phone Company will ever be able to automatically detect them.

Does this mean that phone wiretapping devices are undetectable? Absolutely not. I just means that in order to detect wiretaps you need to understand how your telephone system works, its electronic characteristics, what types of tests to perform and where to perform them. It also means having access to the right electronic test equipment and knowing how to use it.

For a complete glossary of terms relevant to phone wiretapping please click here.