We have entered an age of rapid technological advancement that is tightly coupled with an accelerated rate of adoption. By most accounts, this period will eclipse what we experienced during the Internet era of the mid to late 1990s.
This time there are subtle differences that are likely to make this period much more sustainable, impactful and challenging.
All of this adds up to a very attractive marketplace for new and emerging technology products and services. One recent study stated that the combination of multiple technologies will push the market for the Internet of Things to over $1 trillion in magnitude. That is a huge amount of money and it is drawing a substantial amount of attention — not all of it good!
Criminal organizations, rogue nation states, and even unscrupulous competitors are out to steal the ideas (intellectual property) of companies of all sizes and across most industry segments.
Things have gotten so bad that a few weeks ago the FBI initiated a nationwide awareness campaign. The FBI held a public briefing and their head of counterintelligence, Randall Coleman, said the FBI has seen a 53-percent increase in economic espionage cases, with theft of trade secrets that brought losses totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in the past year. The FBI went out of their way to point out that this is not just about cyber! It is a physical security issue as well.
This is a rapidly growing threat to the well-being of companies and our national security. That was made very clear when Bill Evanina, the head of the FBI National Counterintelligence and one of the agents leading the charge in addressing this growing threat, said, “Economic security is national security.”
This is something we all need to become extremely aware of and take action to protect our sensitive corporate information in all venues. The future is at stake!
INTEL: One recent espionage campaign struck organizations in the agriculture, chemical, construction, education, mass media and nanotechnologies.
