Industrial espionage

Industrial espionage is the theft of confidential knowledge from an organisation — its business information, trade secrets or intellectual property — so that a rival can gain an advantage from it. The attacker is not after publicity or personal satisfaction; the target is knowledge that another company would pay for.

What gets stolen

• Business information — everyday records that would help a rival, such as a customer list, next season's prices or confidential sales figures.
• Trade secrets — a confidential method or recipe that gives the organisation its edge, such as the process used to make a sports drink or the settings used on a factory machine.
• Intellectual property — designs, inventions and software that belong to the organisation, such as the plan for a new bike lock or the source code of an app.

Why it happens

The motive is competitive advantage. A rival that obtains a design can skip the expensive development stage and release its own version, saving time and money. Stolen price plans let a rival undercut the original company, so customers switch. Sales figures show which customers to approach and what deals to offer. The thief may work for the rival, or may be an outsider who is paid to steal the knowledge.

For example, a company that designs escape rooms is planning three new rooms. A designer copies the plans and passes them to a rival opening in the next town. The rival opens with the same puzzles a month earlier, so the first company loses the customers who wanted to try something new.

This is not the same as breaking in for fun or to show off: there the attacker wants the challenge, while here the information itself is worth something to a rival.