The Role of Computer Forensics in Industrial Espionage

Advancements in computer technology have paved the way for rampant industrial espionage thru hacking and spyware. The same technology can be used by businesses to build a defense line in order to protect valuable information from industrial espionage.

Business revolves in the information that they have. Business processes, marketing strategies, product designs, customer records are some information that determines how a company will fare in the market.

Most of this information is housed in the company’s computer servers which can be cracked within a few minutes by an expert hacker. Hacked information may lead to lost profits, lost customers, invalid transactions and a lot more. In short, industrial espionage can destroy a business that has been built for decades.

Industrial espionage maybe committed by someone from within a company, someone from the competitors end, or at the level of end users.

Security Measures

Here are some security measures that a company can take to avoid information disaster:

• Protect your Internal Network- The system must be designed such that the internal network is not exposed. A business partner must not have a direct or indirect access to the company’s internal network since it will be vulnerable to spying.

• Secure Intermediate Storage - Information that is for retrieval must reside in a secure location. Putting the files in the internet, outsourced site, or any other insecure network may make it an easy target from the competition. A strict protocol must be implemented when accessing internal data. Encryption may provide confidentiality but the file can still be deleted or modified.

• Protect Resting Data - Encrypt all resting data since it will make it unreadable to hackers and will maintain high confidentiality. There are several digital measures that can help in protecting sensitive business information.

• Protection from File Deletion - This can be done unintentionally or intentionally. It is best to keep older versions of the file so one may revert back to a working system if there will be access failure due to deleted system files.

• Measures against Data Tampering - Authentication process must be in place to ensure that access to sensitive data will only be for authorized personnel. It will be wise to use digital signatures so people can be held accountable for illegal access.

• Regular Auditing and Monitoring - This will provide a review of the process and ensure that all security measures are being carried out. Random audits can be a major deterrent for probable abusers. Exercises like this also give the business owner or system administrator an idea on how to implement stricter guidelines and security measures for system access.

• Server Protection - Transmission of data to the end users must incorporate authentication of identity. There must be a safety measure to confirm that allowable actions are the only once taking place between the server and end users.

• User Access Schemes - Access to data should be classified according to departments and who can access it.

With the right security measures in place, a business owner will not have to worry about his staff adding a few zeros to his bank account or from a design being modified by a spy.

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