Running head: CYBER-ESPIONAGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT
Cyber-espionage and Intellectual Property (IP) theft:
An overview of the rising threat and the potential responses by both the U. S. Government and
U.S. Businesses
Matthew Doyal
Kennesaw State University
Spring 2014 IS 8200 – Legal & Ethical Issues in IS
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CYBER-ESPIONAGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT
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Abstract
Society and business have become increasingly dependent upon data in the constantly connected world where everything that is said and done online leaves behind a massive ever-growing bread-crumb trail of information. With this ever larger quantity of data being transmitted on a range of devices as well as third party service providers being increasingly relied upon to store it; the threat of loss of confidential and sensitive data continues to expand exponentially (Online
Trust Alliance, 2014, p. 3). “Breaches and data loss incidents have become a fact of life for organizations of every size and throughout the public and private sectors” (Online Trust
Alliance, 2014, p. 4) making no organization immune. Given the growth of data and, therefore, data breaches the threat to the U.S. economy and individual U.S. businesses from trade secret theft is real and growing, therefore; a multi-pronged approach must be implemented by the public and private sectors alike. “Businesses must do their part to harden their cyber defenses, but the “take-home message here is that protecting IP from ‘them’ is an incomplete and inadequate strategy—understanding that ‘we’ are sometimes our own enemy is important to building good policy and practice for defending the crown jewels” (Verizon DBIR Snapshot,
2012, p. 3). However, to avoid continued, significant and irreversible harm to U.S. companies and the overall economy, robust public policy tools—including in particular trade tools—must also be utilized to raise global standards and enhance deterrence against this growing threat”
(Calia et al., 2013, p. 19).
CYBER-ESPIONAGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT
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Cyber-espionage and Intellectual Property (IP) theft:
An overview of the rising threat and the potential responses by both the U. S. Government and
U.S. Businesses
Background: The Explosion of Data and Data Breaches
Society and business have become increasingly dependent upon data in the constantly connected world where everything that is said and done online leaves behind a massive evergrowing bread-crumb trail of information. With this ever larger quantity of data being transmitted on a range of devices as well as third party service providers being increasingly relied upon to store it; the threat of loss of confidential and sensitive data continues to expand exponentially (Online Trust Alliance, 2014, p. 3). “Breaches and data loss incidents have become a fact of life for organizations of every size and throughout the public and private sectors”
(Online Trust Alliance, 2014, p. 4) making no organization immune.
The evidence of this widespread lack of organizational immunity can be seen in the
Verizon 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) which “combines the efforts of 19 organizations: law enforcement agencies, national incident-reporting entities, research institutions, and a number of private security firms”(Verizon Executive Summary, 2013, p. 2).
The 2013 DBIR analyzed “more than 47,000 reported security incidents and 621 confirmed data breaches” (Verizon Executive Summary, 2013, p. 3) and “found that that 78 percent of initial intrusions into corporate networks were relatively easy” (Westervelt, 2013, para. 4) to carry out with lost or stolen passwords at the core of the majority of breaches. As noted by Westervelt
(2014), “organizations are falling asleep at the wheel, failing to proactively monitor or properly configure existing security systems and address common weaknesses being targeted by cybercriminals” (para. 1).
