In an article entitled, Cyberterrorism, Inc., we see the usual link between CI and industrial espionage as if the two are the same. Creating a link between the two is the work of feeble minds.
To gain an advantage over competitors, many corporations are hiring ex-military and government agents trained in the art of intelligence gathering techniques, according to a report from the SANS Institute, a Washington-based cybersecurity training organization.
These individuals are used to head new company divisions whose mission is to spy on competitors and obtain intelligence. Companies spend over US$2 billion annually to spy on each other, according to the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.
In 1999, North American companies lost more than US$45 billion to theft of trade secrets and other valuable corporate data, according to the SANS report. “Today’s total losses are anyone’s guess,” the report continued.
CI is the act of creating Intelligence from open source data. Industrial espionage, on the other hand, usually involves the commission of criminal offences. I suspose the distinction is too complex for so-called journalists.
“companies spend over 2B annually…according to SCIP…” – right. as if scip would even respond to a request for quotes and figures specific to ‘spying’ – however, what the article appears to focus on is internal system exploitation, and this is more of a computer security flavor, hence the schneir quotes in the same article (surprised mudge wasn’t in there too since this has been a past focus area for him)…
Umm, this info, “Companies spend over US$2 billion annually to spy on each other, according to the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals,” is not something that I’m aware of anyone here saying, so it has to be very old. SCIP does respond to requests, but we have no current way of providing reasonably accurate figures on “spying.”