Could Social Networking Kill Your Company?

Yes, it can. And probably before you have a clue about the fate that awaits you. It happens in a number of ways. But first, think how huge the global pool of networkers is, spanning well-known sites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and many others. The latest US data shows Facebook surging ahead, with its overall number of users now surpassing 400 million. To put that in perspective, only two countries have a greater population – China and India. One thing you can be dead sure of these days is that a vast number of your employees are swimming in that pool. And what’s going into the water with them could be your core intellectual property, private customer data, information on financial strengths and weaknesses, and even details of that tender you’re about to lodge. You know, the one you’re certain to win and which will guarantee your firm’s survival after the battering you’ve taken in the GFC.

‘Loose lips sink ships’ is an old wartime catchphrase that points to how most of this spillage occurs. Your staff talks without thinking and others pick up their banter. Bear in mind, surveys show 98% of users volunteer enough data for their identity to be readily stolen. How careful then, are they likely to be with your corporate secrets? Because advertisers increasingly use this medium to reach a mass audience, networkers perceive an aura of business legitimacy about it. But that’s only your ‘innocent’ employees. Think how much worse it is when they’re malicious. Even the FBI in the US, we now learn, is swimming in these same waters to track down a host of wrongdoers. Of course, FBI operatives are the goodies. Imagine the baddies targeting your operations?

If this frightens you, and it should – after all, your board would expect it to – call in a group of experienced professionals without delay. See how they can help you protect your business, or, to put it another way, fulfil your responsibilities. Their sophisticated methods, like computer forensics, stretch well beyond social networking and will throw up a range of other threats you may never have thought of. There are too many to mention, but fraud is commonly high on the list.

Two Ways to Rob a Bank

If you’re into robbery and you take the money, at least you have the hot feel of cash in hand. But if you’re a true professional you’ll go for the bank’s intellectual property, its customer details plus their spending and investment habits, and any other data with high value in the business world. Now that’s a much more sophisticated game and besides, one where you don’t need acetylene torches and gelignite. It’s also a pursuit where management may not know what’s been stolen from right under their corporate nose until it’s far too late. CEOs and senior executives have many nightmares and this is but one: staff resigning and taking the crown jewels with them. It can happen at almost any level of the hierarchical chart. Can you protect yourself from such a calamity? Yes, and transactional analysis and computer forensics are just two of the sophisticated methods that experienced professionals apply to help you stay on the front foot.

This scenario may well be exercising the minds of senior executives in Tokyo at Nomura, the Japanese investment bank that has only recently integrated the non-US assets of Lehman Brothers. That’s a lot for any python to digest and the last thing you want in the process is a burst in the seams. But early in March, Nomura’s head of equities in Asia, followed by the joint-head of fixed income, indicated they were stepping down. Then the bank’s head of telecoms, media and financial practice in India also left. Now Nomura’s been hit with its highest profile departure: its chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who was actually the architect of the Lehman acquisition.

This is not to insinuate in any way that these high-calibre executives are “robbing the bank”. Rather, it’s to highlight the extreme danger that can confront a business when resignations – and especially sackings – take place. You can’t protect yourself after the event, but you can be proactive beforehand. The right professionals will equip your business with monitoring and analytical capabilities that not only detect fraud in standard times but also pick up variations that forewarn you of imminent departures. It’s state-of-the-art and fundamental to security. Ignore it at your peril.

Open Slather on Corporate Secrets

A new trans-Atlantic survey has confirmed what many suspected: staff moving on to another job will often take much more than their payout with them. While you can’t stop employees carrying your company’s intellectual property out in their heads, there is something you can do to protect yourself before they leave. Call in a team of professional experts to show you how state-of-the-art technology and the intricacies of computer forensics can be used to pinpoint what’s being downloaded prior to an employee’s departure. If you see redundancies on the horizon, act well in advance.

Nearly half of the financial sector workers surveyed in New York and London admitted that they would take with them sensitive corporate information if they were sacked. The survey, carried out by management specialists Cyber Ark in November, also showed that just over 40 per cent had already taken sensitive data with them to their new jobs. Just under 40 per cent said they would download such information pre-emptively if they sensed that their position was at risk. Over 30 per cent revealed that they would not hesitate to pass on sensitive corporate data if that were to be instrumental in their gaining employment for friends and relatives. Topping the information-stealing list was customer-related information – which in its own right could contain highly sensitive records – followed by product information and company strategy.

As frightening as these figures are, even more so was the fact that a quarter of the workers surveyed acknowledged that in light of the current economic downturn they felt less commitment and loyalty to their employer. As the UK director of Cyber Ark put it, “employee confidence has been rocked. Many workers are willing to do practically anything to ensure job security or make themselves marketable – including committing a crime.” Not surprisingly, 85 per cent of those surveyed recognised that it was illegal to download company information. Nevertheless, of those who admitted they would steal data some also stated that they would take passwords and any other information they needed in order to continue accessing the network of their previous employer.

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New Spy Chief Slip-Up Highlights Technology Dilemma

Virtually every household’s lexicon is replete these days with terms like Facebook, My Space, Twitter, MSN Chat, hi5 and Skype. As useful as social networking is to many people, we need to consider what happens when this private world meets – if not intrudes upon – the professional domain of business and government? In some cases the answer is disaster. The security, for example, that your firm’s operations depend upon can be obliterated in one innocent flash, and possibly without you even knowing. In this day and age it pays to have experts in forensic investigation on side who can warn you of where your danger spots are. Corporate intellectual property can be exposed by over zealous engineers posting their findings on the web or by marketing personnel giving `sneak’ previews of a new product launch to their Twitter group.

A lesson in how alert you have to be came in Britain a few days ago when the country’s new spy chief, Sir John Sawers, 53, found himself in hot water over his wife’s Facebook page. It was speedily removed by the government after its contents were published in a newspaper. To many, it looked innocent enough: shots of the Sawers and their three children at the beach and a selection of vacation photos. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary – read Minister – who is responsible for the Secret Intelligence Service (commonly known as MI6), ducked and weaved by claiming that it was hardly a state secret that Sir John wore Speedos.

The problem was that the Facebook site also revealed the location of the family’s London home, transport details and shots of other senior officials with whom Sawers and his wife are friendly. Lady Sawers had imposed no privacy protection on her account and hence it was available to some 200 million users. Currently Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sawers is due to take over MI6 in November. Even before he went to New York, the Facebook site should have been removed for simple security reasons. He was, after all, an MI6 spy himself before he moved on in his career to work in Yemen, Syria, Egypt and Iraq. He has also been closely involved at the policy level with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Starwood & Hilton Hotels: A case of corporate espionage

The term `corporate espionage’ has been around for decades and is often used by the media to infer a top secret method used by a foreign power to winkle out industrial secrets which could make or break western civilization [Chinese American Scientist Lee Wen Ho, who was accused in 1999 by US Federal authorities of stealing nuclear arsenal secrets for China, springs to mind]. However, far more common than this is the corporate espionage that affects the business operations of everyday entities ranging from small businesses to large corporations. A case in point demonstrating Intellectual Property & Brand Protection abuse involving Hilton Hotels and Starwood are before the courts right now.

The type of information which is usually targeted during a corporate espionage operation is somewhat mundane in comparison to government backed spying operations but can be equally damaging to the victimized organisation. Likewise, the players in these operations tend more to be managers who happen to have access to crucial information due to chance, proximity or reporting structure rather than a grand design by a foreign spy network.

A good example is the recent stoush between the hotel groups Starwood and Hilton. According to media reports, Starwood has accused Hilton of poaching their senior employees as well as stealing thousands of documents regarding their successful W Hotel and St Regis Brands. Hilton denies this. Starwood claims that two of their top executives took with them thousands of documents when they jumped ship to Hilton. These documents supposedly contained the bulk of the Intellectual Property [IP] developed by Starwood over years of operating their luxury chain. This IP included such diverse information as how to negotiate with property developers, training employees, development plans, marketing, demographic data and methods for operating the whole hotel. Starwood contends that this IP is worth tens of millions of dollars and effectively allows a competitor to leapfrog the failures and setbacks of developing their own brand.

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