Corporate espionage costing billions each year

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Corporate espionage costing billions each year

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Canada AM: What will happen at the conference?

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former CSIS intelligence officer, says the conference will allow spies to talk about their training, case studies, who has been targeted, and how. He explains how awareness of the issue is how companies can best defend themselves.

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Spy conference Canada, Bay Street, CSIS, corporate espionage

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CTVNews.ca Staff

Date: Tue. Nov. 29 2011 8:40 AM ET

Corporate espionage is a costly drain on the Canadian economy and companies increasingly need to be aware of the threats around them, says a former CSIS intelligence officer.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya says it is estimated that the economy loses between $50 and $100 billion each year as a result of secrets and other confidential information being stolen.

"It's market share, it's contracts, it's economic capability that we are losing and we are losing that sort of market capability as well at the same time," Juneau-Katsuya told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday morning.

Canada is a target for this type of espionage because of the open nature of its society and the information that is up for grabs.

"We are a knowledge-based society. We have cutting-edge technology, great research centres and that attracts not only foreign spies, but also national spies -- people who want to make a quick buck and steal technology from their own company sometimes," said Juneau-Katsuya.

To protect themselves, Juneau-Katsuya said businesses must first be aware of the risks they are facing. Then they must take steps to protect themselves.

Juneau-Katsuya has organized a two-day Ottawa conference that is aimed at helping businesses understand the risks they face from corporate espionage -- directly from former spies who have helped procure information for foreign governments, and also from the counterintelligence professionals who have been trained to root them out.

"It's about former spies, current spies, counterintelligence officers coming to share their trade, to talk about case studies, specifically who has been targeted and how they have been targeted," he said.

The CISC 2011: Protecting Your Company Against Corporate Espionage conference runs Nov. 29-30.

Juneau-Katsuya said operatives of the Chinese government are the number-one threat to Canada today.

China has built a network of spies that has an unparalleled reach around the globe, he said.

"Since the end of the Cold War, we've moved from a military confrontation to an economic confrontation," he said.

"Now everybody is fighting for the same market share. And in that fight, everybody goes (on the) offensive."

Comments are now closed for this story

dante
said

There is more behind this story than printed. It is yet another example of news stories that are designed to make us fear being an open society. there is no news here for businesses. If you run or manage a business here you should already be aware that this problems exists particularly with certain Eastern groups who are here to steal all our ideas and business models. we let em in, give them jobs so they can run us out of business. This statement is less racially motivated than the article above suggests.

Stewie
said

It's all part of the capitalist system. If I was a foreigner, I move to Canada get a job learn all the ins & outs of that job then decide I know enough to start my own business. I decide hey I would really be able to make a lot of money in my old country. This is just capitalist complaining about capitalism. Anyone business is always going to look for the competitive edge incorporating others ideas is part of capitalism. If you have secrets that should be hidden then it's your responsibility to hide them.

I've been saying it for years
said

Economics is the warfare of the new age. That's why buying plastic fighters is such a futile maneuver. We shouldn't be concerned with the Red Hoard spilling over our borders and plundering our villages. The ones we have to worry about are the ones in casual businesss attire applying for senior management positions in the Canadian high tech sector. The reverse engineering capabilities of the Communist Chinese government are astounding. Rather than buying plastic planes, Harper would be far better off developing an anti espionage stratey to protect our vital R&D sector.

In the Int Scene
said

Unless we become a closed society like North Korea, there is little that government can do except react. Businesses and private individuals have to take responsibility for their own security. This is not right-wing paranoia, information is a valuable product; protect it the same way you would protect your inventory.