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The scale and impact of industrial espionage and theft of trade secrets through cyber
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The scale and impact of industrial espionage and theft of trade secrets through cyber

The scale and impact of industrial espionage and theft of trade secrets through cyber

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The past decade has seen rapid development in the field of information technology and a digital revolution that has provided unprecedented benefits to the European society and economy, facilitating trade and the provision of services, creating new opportunities for businesses and boosting productivity and economic gain. While a better-connected world offers new opportunities, there are also new risks. This study focusses on investigating the impact on European businesses and organisations of a specific type of cyber incident, namely cyber theft of trade secrets. Information represents a pivotal economic asset for businesses, which rely on confidentiality of data as a key for their industrial progress, crucial for the development of their innovation process and their economic growth. The study is based on an extensive literature review complemented by stakeholder engagement, namely through an online survey, interviews with key stakeholders and a workshop organised in cooperation with the services of the European Commission (EC) in Brussels on 4th October 2018. Industrial espionage is a method employed throughout history. Europe is particularly vulnerable to this threat. Because of its first class industrial and academic research and development (R&D), Europe attracts interest from emerging countries and competitors. The Tilburg University confirmed this trend in 2015, estimating that “20% of European companies suffered a breach”.1 The study demonstrates that European businesses are particularly exposed to this kind of threat, because of their advanced know-how and production development. In fact, national businesses in Italy (36%), France (24%), Germany (20%) and The Netherlands (17%) topped the list as the Europeans who fear cyber espionage the most.2 Among these countries, the analysis reveals that German companies are most affected with 17% of them declaring sensitive data stolen between 2015 and 2017. Sectors with distinctive industrial expertise are targeted more often, such as luxury manufacturing in Italy or finance in the UK. At European Union (EU) level, manufacturing, information and communication technologies, finance, health and medical technologies are the most impacted sectors, demonstrating that cyber-misappropriation of trade secrets focuses on strategic economic production. As 26 billion personal devices, business and industrial equipment are about to become seamlessly connected in Industry 4.0, the “surface” available for competitors is amplifying, encouraging the multiplication of means and techniques for the fulfillment of cyber intrusions. There was great consensus among stakeholders interviewed and surveyed on the fact that cyber theft of trade secrets represents a concrete and growing threat for all types and sizes of companies and organisations holding confidential information. Businesses across the EU are constantly cyber-attacked and the cyber threat of trade secrets continues to grow. Stakeholders were of the view that one of the main issues is the lack of accurate and exhaustive data on the issue. The real extent of the problem might therefore be much larger than what it is currently perceived.
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ISBN 978-92-79-77355-6
DOI 10.2873/48055
Katalógové číslo ET-01-18-013-EN-N
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ISSN ISBN 978-92-79-77355-6 DOI 10.2873/48055 Katalógové číslo ET-01-18-013-EN-N
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