Abstract
The interest in protected information of others is probably as old as mankind itself. The danger of business secrets being spied on by competitors, hacker groups or foreign intelligence services or its exploitation by third parties has the potential for significant economic consequences. With the increasing digitalisation of corporate and production processes, cyberattacks are becoming more and more relevant in the unauthorised outflow of know-how and pose particular challenges for law enforcement authorities in investigating and providing evidence, especially when the perpetrators act from abroad. The chapter explores economic and industrial espionage, uses real examples to illustrate it and examines the legal basis of the problem in several countries in the European Union and the UK. Furthermore, it explores the perpetrators and the techniques they use and considers the extent and cost of the problem.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Only four countries (Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Hungary) have a legal definition of industrial espionage and three countries (Lithuania, the Netherlands and Hungary) provide a legal definition for economic espionage (Carl et al. 2017, p. 95).
- 2.
The European Commission in the Trade Secrets Directive takes a broader definition which could include confidential information such as proposed pricings for competitive bids (see, European Commission n.d.).
- 3.
The numbers are based on cases that resulted in a court judgement, penal order or provisional dispensing with court action (Art. 153a Criminal Procedure Code).
- 4.
Until 2019, the violation of trade secrets was regulated in Sec. 17 to 19 Act against Unfair Competition.
References
Aldoney Ramírez, R. (2009). Der allgemeine Geschäfts-und Betriebsgeheimnisbegriff. In Der strafrechtliche Schutz von Geschäfts-und Betriebsgeheimnissen (pp. 24–25). Herbolzheim: Centaurus Verlag & Media.
BBC News (2016). Clinton campaign ‘hacked’ along with other Democratic groups. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-36927523
Bertel, C., Schwaighöfer, K., and Venier, A. (2018). Österreichisches Strafrecht Besonderer Teil I (§§ 75 bis 168b StGB). 14th edition. Wien: Verlag Österreich.
Bollhöfer, E., and Jäger, A. (2018). Wirtschaftsspionage und Konkurrenzausspähung—Vorfälle und Prävention bei KMU im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung. Freiburg: Arbeitsberichte Band A 8, Max-Planck-Instituts für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht.
Bottom, N. R., and Gallati, R. R. (1984). Industrial espionage: Intelligence techniques and countermeasures. Butterworth.
Bundesamt für Statistik (2020). Strafgesetzbuch: Straftaten und beschuldigte Personen 2009–2019. Retrieved from https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/kriminalitaet-strafrecht/polizei/straftaten.assetdetail.11147617.html [accessed: 30 November 2020].
Bundeskriminalamt (2012). Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 2012. Retrieved from https://www.bka.de/DE/AktuelleInformationen/StatistikenLagebilder/PolizeilicheKriminalstatistik/PKS2012/pks2012.html [accessed 30 November 2020].
Bundeskriminalamt (2015). Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 2015. Retrieved from https://www.bka.de/DE/AktuelleInformationen/StatistikenLagebilder/PolizeilicheKriminalstatistik/PKS2015/pks2015_node.html [accessed 30 November 2020].
Bundeskriminalamt (2019). Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 2019—T01 Grundtabelle – Fälle. Retrieved from https://www.bka.de/DE/AktuelleInformationen/StatistikenLagebilder/PolizeilicheKriminalstatistik/PKS2019/PKSTabellen/BundFalltabellen/bundfalltabellen.html?nn=131006 [accessed 30 November 2020].
Button, M. (2020) Editorial: Economic and industrial espionage. Security Journal, 33(1), 1–5.
Cabinet Office/Detica (2011) The Cost of Cyber Crime. Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/60942/THE-COST-OF-CYBER-CRIME-SUMMARY-FINAL.pdf
Carl, S., Kilchling, M., Knickmeier, S., and Wallwaey, E. (2017). Wirtschaftsspionage und Konkurrenzausspähung in Deutschland und Europa. Schriftenreihe Forschung aktuell des Max-Planck-Instituts für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht Band 49.
Cornwall, H. (1991). The industrial espionage handbook (pp. 95–98). London: Century.
Dreissigacker, A., von Skarczinski, B., and Wollinger, G. R. (2020). Cyber-attacks against companies in Germany. Retrieved from https://kfn.de/wp-content/uploads/Forschungsberichte/FB_158.pdf [accessed: 30 November 2020].
Drescher, J. (2019). Industrie- und Wirtschaftsspionage in Deutschland. Berlin: Lit Verlag.
European Centre for International Political Economy (2018). Stealing thunder: Cloud, IoT and 5G will change the strategic paradigm for protecting European commercial interests. Will cyber espionage be allowed to hold Europe back in the global race for industrial competitiveness? Retrieved from https://ecipe.org/publications/stealing-thunder/
European Commission (n.d.). Trade secrets. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/intellectual-property/trade-secrets_en
European Parliament (2001). Report on the existence of a global system for the interception of private and commercial communications (ECHELON interception system). Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A5-2001-0264+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN [accessed 30 November 2020].
Glitz, A., and Meyersson, E. (2020). Industrial espionage and productivity. American Economic Review, 110(4), 1055–1103.
Goel, S., Williams, K., and Dincelli, E. (2017). Got phished? Internet security and human vulnerability. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 18(1), 22.
The Guardian (2012). Dyson accuses Bosch of paying research spy. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/oct/24/dyson-accuses-bosch-paying-research-spy#:~:text=Dyson%20has%20accused%20its%20German,its%20high%2Dsecurity%20research%20division.&text=%22Dyson%20has%20confronted%20Bosch%20with,technology%2C%22%20the%20company%20said.
Hannas, W. C., Mulvenon, J., and Puglisi, A. B. (2013). Chinese industrial espionage: Technology acquisition and military modernisation. Routledge.
Heims, P. A. (1982). Countering industrial espionage. 20th Century Security Education.
Hofer, A., & M. Weiß. (2016). Wirtschafts- und Industriespionage—Informationsgewinnung, Management, Kompetenz. Wiesbaden: Springer.
Hou, T., and Wang, V. (2020). Industrial espionage—A systematic literature review (SLR). Computers & Security, 98, 102019.
House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. (2012). Private Investigators. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmhaff/100/10002.htm
The Independent (2015). British Airways spying scandal: New logo, new routes, new bosses—But the stench remains. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-airways-spying-scandal-new-logo-new-routes-new-bosses-but-the-stench-remains-10076755.html
IP Commission (2017). The theft of American intellectual property: reassessments of the challenge and united states policy.
Jeffray, C. (2014). The threat of cyber-crime to the UK RUSI threat assessment. Retrieved from https://rusi.org/sites/default/files/201406_bp_the_threat_of_cyber-crime_to_the_uk.pdf
Kalbfus, B. H. (2011). Know-how-Schutz in Deutschland zwischen Strafrecht und Zivilrecht-welcher Reformbedarf besteht?. Heymann.
Kasper, W. (2020). Dealing with China’s turn to the dark side. Quadrant, 64(12), 66–71.
Knickmeier, S. (2020a). Wirtschaftsspionage und Konkurrenzausspähung kennen keine Grenzen eine vergleichende Analyse exemplarischer Fälle. In Wallwaey, E., Bollhöfer, E., and Knickmeier, S. (Eds.). Wirtschaftsspionage und Konkurrenzausspähung: Phänomenologie, Strafverfolgung und Prävention in ausgewählten europäischen Ländern. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 39–76.
Knickmeier, S. (2020b). Spies without borders? The phenomena of economic and industrial espionage and the deterrence strategies of Germany and other selected European countries. Security Journal, 33, 6–26.
Leveson (2012). An inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press: Volume 1–4. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/leveson-inquiry-report-into-the-culture-practices-and-ethics-of-the-press
Los Angeles Times (1999). 2 Taiwanese convicted in economic spy case. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-29-fi-32206-story.html
Lux, C., & Peske, T. (2002). Competitive Intelligence und Wirtschaftsspionage. Gabler Verlag.
Moore, A. P., Cappelli, D. M., Caron, T. C., Shaw, E., Spooner, D., and Trzeciak, R. F. (2011). A preliminary model of insider theft of intellectual property (No. MU/SEI-2011-TN-013). CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIV PITTSBURGH PA SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INST.
Nasheri, H. (2005). Economic espionage and industrial spying. Cambridge University Press.
National Cyber Security Centre (2020). Advisory: APT29 targets COVID-19 vaccine development. Retrieved from https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/files/Advisory-APT29-targets-COVID-19-vaccine-development.pdf
Nicola, A. D., and Scartezzini, A. (2000). When economic crime becomes organised: The role of information technologies. A case study. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 11(3), 343–348.
Nurse, J. R., Buckley, O., Legg, P. A., Goldsmith, M., Creese, S., Wright, G. R., and Whitty, M. (2014, May). Understanding insider threat: A framework for characterising attacks. In 2014 IEEE Security and Privacy Workshops (pp. 214–228). IEEE.
Phishme (2016). Enterprise Phishing Susceptibility and Resiliency Report. Retrieved from https://cofense.com/enterprise-phishing-susceptibility-report
Pohl, H. (2009). Zero-Day und Less-than-Zero-Day Vulnerabilities und Exploits. In Zacharias, C., ter Horst, K. W., Witt, K-U., Sommer, V. Ant, M., Essmann, U., and Mülheims, L. (Eds). Forschungsspitzen und Spitzenforschung. Innovationen an der FH Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Festschrift für Wulf Fischer. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag, pp. 113–123.
Reuters (2011). Chinese hackers infiltrated five energy firms: McAfee. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-cyber-china/chinese-hackers-infiltrated-five-energy-firms-mcafee-idUSTRE7190XP20110210
Roper, C. (2013). Trade secret theft, industrial espionage, and the China threat. CRC Press.
Rose, S. (2010). For all the tea in China. Penguin.
Schmid, F., and Sulzbacher, M. (2018). Die Liste: Wen der deutsche Geheimdienst in Österreich ausspähte. Retrieved from https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000081647150/die-liste-wen-der-deutsche-geheimdienst-in-oesterreich [accessed: 30 November 2020].
Shah, S. (2012). Corporate espionage on ‘an industrial scale’ targeting the UK. Retrieved from https://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2187123/corporate-espionage-an-industrial-scale-targeting-uk
Stirnimann, S. (2018). Der Mensch als Risikofaktor bei Wirtschaftskriminalität. Handlungsfähig bei Non-Compliance und Cyberkriminalität. Wiesbaden: Springer.
US Department of Justice (2018). Chinese Company Sinovel Wind Group convicted of theft of trade secrets. Press release, 24 January 2018. Retrieved from www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-company-sinovel-wind-group-convicted-theft-trade-secrets [accessed: 30 November 2020].
Wagner, R. E. (2012). Bailouts and the potential for distortion of federal criminal law: Industrial espionage and beyond. Tulane Law Review, 86(5), 1017–1055. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1923469
Wall, D. S. (2007). Cybercrime. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Wallwaey, E., Bollhöfer, E., & Knickmeier, S. (2020). Wirtschaftsspionage und Konkurrenzausspähung: phänomenologie, Strafverfolgung und Prävention in ausgewählten europäischen Ländern. Duncker & Humblot.
Weatherall, K., and Webster, E. (2010). Patent infringement in Australia: Results from a survey. Federal Law Review, 38(1), 21–70.
Whitehead, T. (2016). Business suffering ‘industrial scale’ cyber theft, warns GCHQ head. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12197993/Business-suffering-industrial-scale-cyber-theft-warns-GCHQ-head.html
World Intellectual Property Organisation (n.d.). Trade secrets. Retrieved from https://www.wipo.int/tradesecrets/en/
Zwahlen, F., Marti, I., Richter, M., Konopatsch, C., and Hoststettler, U. (2020). Wirtschaftsspionage in der Schweiz – Schlussbericht zuhanden des Nachrichtendienstes des Bundes (NBD). Bern: Universität Bern. Retrieved from https://www.vbs.admin.ch/content/vbs-internet/de/verschiedene-themen-des-vbs/die-nachrichtenbeschaffung-des-bundes/wirtschaftsspionage-in-der-schweiz.download/vbs-internet/de/documents/nachrichtendienst/wirtschaftsspionage/20200120_Schlussbericht_Wirtschaftsspionage.pdf [accessed: 30 November 2020].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Button, M., Knickmeier, S. (2022). Economic and Industrial Espionage: Characteristics, Techniques and Response. In: Gill, M. (eds) The Handbook of Security. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91735-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91735-7_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-91734-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-91735-7
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)