Diagnosis
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States loses up to $100 billion per year as a result of the industrial espionage (Thonnardet al., 2012). Industrial espionage is a significant problem because it involves gathering crucial information belonging to the rival's secret processes and technological developments. It is regarded not only as an illegal but also an unethical theft of trade secrets perpetrated by competitors in a bid to achieve a competitive advantage. Some of the risk factors associated with the loss of critical information during industrial espionage include foreign competitors, former employees, domestic competitors, hackers, and on-site contractors. Companies that have in the past reported incidents of industrial espionage had listed several areas under the highest risk including the financial data, research and development, and customer lists among other forms of data. Companies that experience loss of data and information through industrial espionage experience a plethora of problems including the loss of revenue and the exorbitant fees due to endless lawsuits against them. According to a recent US-based survey, more than 50% of the impacted firms fail to report the breach of their data due to the fear that their shareholder value will significantly reduce (Thonnard et al., 2012). Therefore, the most apparent diagnostic signs for industrial espionage include the loss of revenue through a legal process and a lack of competitive advantage.
Prognosis
Less than half of the industrial espionage cases are reported despite the law clearly stipulating the retributive aspects associated with the crime. As such, this provides a leeway that ensures that the crime is reported over and over again. The immediate diagnostic impact that this unethical behavior has is the loss of revenue due to lawsuits and a lowered competitive advantage. The company loses its market position and can run into unprecedented losses depending on the nature of trade secrets acquired. If the customer information is obtained, the company will face not only multiple lawsuits but also a tainted image that will, in the long run, destroy its reputation. Such business outfits risk losing their primary stakeholders and shareholders thus further adversely impacting its future. Without proper diagnosis and prescription, the loss of revenue means that the company will have operational problems that can drive it into oblivion. However, the appropriate diagnosis will identify the significant issues such as the leeway and loopholes used for data breaching. It can also assess the vulnerabilities and provide a clue of the perpetrators thereby giving the company an opportunity to restore its initial status before the unethical behavior.
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Prescription
The prognosis, as well as the prescription, will tend to follow the deontological approach to ethical reasoning. Ming-huei (2013) asserted thatdeontology focuses on the rightness and wrongness of the actions per se as opposed to their consequences as described in consequentialism. Therefore, morality is gauged based on the quality of an action. It also remains fundamental to note that industrial espionage is one of the most underreported forms of unethical behavior because it is difficult to prove. Industrial espionage is prohibited by the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 where “section 1832 makes illegal the theft of such trade secrets for commercial or economic gain” (Halligan, 2014). Individuals culpable for stealing trade secrets are therefore guilty of a criminal offense and can face a jail term of up to ten years with a fine of up to $10 million.
Therefore, companies must remain keen to investigate its close employers and fierce competitors that might be suspects whenever a breach of information occurs. Since pursuing such cases can be difficult, it remains fundamental for the government to help companies investigate these matters by use of facilities and departments such as the Criminal Intelligence Agency (CIA). Due to the severity of the industrial espionage and its associated damage to the affected industry, the lawmakers should include more stringent laws such as the withdrawal of licenses and closure of companies found to play a role in such an unethical endeavor. As such, this will be in tandem with the deontological ethical approach which states that people should be held accountable based on the quality of their actions.
Proscription
As earlier intimated, the losses incurred as a result of industrial espionage can run into billions. Therefore, it remains crucial for companies to establish countermeasures aimed at stopping the problem. In an age of digital technology, enhancing technical security should be the first process in reducing the vulnerabilities present in the electronic systems. An efficient technical security guarantees integrity, confidentiality, and above all, it ensures that the computer networks and systems function properly (Solberg Søilen, 2016).The company must also emphasize its operational security where the keen focus will be put on the business process to prevent any case of compromise via non-technical means. For instance, specific policies restrict open communication lines in the telephone and internet lines thus reducing any possibility that the information would be compromised. Equal emphasis must also be put on physical security as a large amount of information can be compromised as a result of breakage, trespassing, and theft. Therefore, this calls for simple rules and regulations such as preventing or restricting access to certain areas and disallowing the prospects of free roam of corporate facilities. Personnel security should at all times take precedence in a bid to put a stop to this unethical behavior (Solberg Søilen, 2016).All individuals with access to sensitive information must effectively be put to scrutiny through a process such as a background check.
References
Halligan, R. M. (2014). Revisited 2015: Protection of US Trade Secret Assets: Critical Amendments to the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L., 14, 476.
Ming-huei, L. E. E. (2013). Confucianism, Kant, and virtue ethics. In Virtue ethics and Confucianism (pp. 63-71). Routledge.
Solberg Søilen, K. (2016). Economic and industrial espionage at the start of the 21st century–Status questions. Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business, 6(3), 51-64.
Thonnard, O., Bilge, L., O’Gorman, G., Kiernan, S., & Lee, M. (2012, September). Industrial espionage and targeted attacks: Understanding the characteristics of an escalating threat. In International workshop on recent advances in intrusion detection (pp. 64-85). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
