How much espionage takes place at businesses you cover

Alleged Russian spies are making headlines this week; one of them was even a marketing  student at Columbia.

You may think there’s little chance of secret agents showing up on your business beat – but industrial or corporate espionage is alive and well, and as a story idea it’s worth a bit of snooping around in your backyard

Here in the Motor City (and other automotive centers), for example, high walls and sometimes woods or vacant land surround automakers proving grounds, where new models are tested – yet somehow or another, enterprising shutterbugs snap spy photos that make their way to blogs like this one, CarSpyPhotos.com. (Sometimes I wonder if a few of the so-called spy pix aren’t the work of PR folks using reverse psychology, but you get the drift.)

Business-related spying is done for commercial purposes – from gaining information for competitive advantage to outright theft of designs, products, intellectual property and other proprietary assets.  Much of it is information-technology driven these days, as this article from a German publication illustrates – meaning it can affect companies of every size and line of business, not just big manufacturers or research firms.

Why not try to spin a spy story off the businesses in your region?  Ideas that come to mind are:

Victims and perps: Well-known national and international cases have involved giants like Google,  Hewlett-Packard and Procter & Gamble’s competitive intelligence unit.

Come up with a list of the top five or 10 corporate espionage cases near you and readers will devour the tales.  Check with your state’s licensing agencies and regulators, attorneys general and regional U.S. attorneys about trends, prosecutions, convictions and other industrial spying issues that may not have made your radar screen.  Talk with area firms (ask for risk management exec — profile posisiblies? —  about precautions they take to safeguard property and secrets.

Even small businesses have valuable secrets – there’s a tavern near me that reportedly has been offered a six-figure sum for the techniques that create its no-frills but internationally famous hamburger.  Do any of your area landmarks have proprietary sauces or other specialties to protect?

Prevention and detection: One of the famous names in corporate fraud and espionage investigation is Kroll,  a global firm with offices in 55 U.S. cities.  If there’s one near you, try to tap their expertise – at least on background – to get an idea of the vulnerabilities in major industries and employers you cover.  The National Association of Forensic Accountants – or local members – may also be a source of tips.   Google for security and cyber-safety experts that service companies in your region.

And remember that not all “spying” illegal.  At the most basic level, for example, it’s a pretty safe bet that the general manager of, say, your local Wal-Mart runs an errand at Kmart and Target from time to time to peek at layout, merchandise and promotions.

Check with area business schools for experts in competitive planning and intelligence; a biz feature about legal techniques – like manufacturers buying one another’s products and reverse-engineering them – could make a fascinating explainer or even a career article.  How do you get to be a legitimate corporate snoop these days, anyway?