As a business owner, manager, or employee, you're well aware of the importance of locking the physical doors. It seems that IT managers are not so much trying to lock the digital doors as to at least push them closed against the enemies who've already unlatched them.

Are all of these things distracting us from something perhaps even more important, more threatening? Perhaps in the process of trying to keep things out, our focus has shifted too far.

In a 2003 White Paper (Economic Espionage and Trade Secret Theft: Defending against the pickpockets of the new millennium) from Xerox, David Drab, Director, Information Content Security Services, says "…while this approach may be effective in preventing unauthorized persons from gaining access from the outside, it does little to prevent the theft or loss of critical information by those on the inside."

Also from that White Paper, "The document—the means by which information is most often transferred—has evolved considerably, and today U.S. courts generally hold that documents include not only the 8.5" x 11" paper version, but also e-mail, files on computer disk, voicemail, handwritten notes, audio recordings, video, and draft versions of paper and electronic communications. These 'documents' are created, stored, shared, and distributed differently than traditional paper documents." But have workflows changed to most effectively accommodate these documents and their related security? Beyond processes, the paper continues, "…trust, loyalty, and dedication—are not what they once were. Today, employees give little more than a passing thought to walking out with innovation and ingenuity—bought and paid for by a company—and using it as a bargaining chip to climb the job ladder, possibly with a competitor."

Harsh words, indeed.

Anyone—of any race, creed, or color—is capable of doing something underhanded, or even selling trade secrets. For example, earlier this year, according to an article in The Detroit News AutosInsider, "The FBI arrested a former vice president of sales and another ex-employee of a Plymouth auto parts supplier Tuesday, accusing them of leaking trade secrets worth millions of dollars to a Chinese company." Who would have thought that connecting rod technology was worth millions?

I can't also help but wonder if such threats are exacerbated with our borders flung open not only to foreign nationals of either immigrant or non-immigrant status, but also illegal aliens. (Keep in mind one of Houghton Mifflin Company's definitions of 'alien.' "Owing political allegiance to another country or government…")

Perhaps while locking the bad guys out, we're also keeping some of them locked in.

Related Reading

Xerox White Paper: Economic Espionage and Trade Secret Theft: Defending against the pickpockets of the new millennium

FBI: Local Execs Stole Secrets for Chinese

ANSIR: Awareness of National Security Issues and Response

Economic and Industrial Espionage: a Threat to Corporate America

Working in the United States

Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Program: Awareness of National Security Issues and Response

Information Security News: Woman Held Over Industrial Espionage
(While it didn't happen here, it's recent and interesting.)

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996