Espionage definition
It makes the case that many foreigners - especially Chinese, Japanese, Russians, French, and Israelis - are indeed trying to gather information about the United States, that some of this gathering is shady or illegal, and that some of the information in the hands of foreign competitors could damage the interests of American firms. The book contains many good, well-written war stories drawn from journalistic accounts, court records, and interviews. The author's thesis is that the American economy is being undermined by foreign "spies" seeking practical knowledge from and about the United States.
#Espionage definition how to#
Companies should use next-generation security that provides maximum protection for endpoints with minimum impact.įor more in-depth information on and strategies to mitigate and/or address espionage-as-a-service and related attacks-what espionage as a service is, how it affects enterprises, and how to defend against it-read our latest executive brief, “ Espionage as a Service.
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They are also encouraged to train their employees to spot signs of attacks, thwarting them before they can progress and put their organizations’ bottom lines in great peril.Įmploying a connected threat defense strategy that protects networks and systems through a wide mix of security technologies that work hand-in-hand is crucial. They should segment their networks and limit who can access systems that hold top-secret data. The same is true when battling espionage-as-a-service and related attacks.Ĭompanies are urged to classify the data they keep according to their level of confidentiality. Securing data and the network perimeter should always be the first steps in protecting against any kind of attack. The total cost of cybercrime (data theft) worldwide is expected to reach US$2 trillion by 2019.
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How can enterprises fight against espionage-as-a-service and related attacks? Data loss is, of course, an imminent risk, with other damaging effects like loss of competitive edge over rivals, damage to brand and reputation, and financial loss (potential profits, attack-recovery expenditures, etc.). The data is then exfiltrated to a site that only the attackers have access to for selling to the highest bidders or delivery to the individual or company that hired them.įigure 2: Espionage-as-a-service attack chainĮspionage-as-a-service attacks affect a company’s bottom line. Attackers then move laterally across the network to seek out top-secret data.
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Network command and control (C&C) is then established aided by backdoors, remote access Trojans (RATs), or other malware. This helps ensure they get the credentials with the highest level of access required to infiltrate systems where company crown jewels are stored. Using the intel gathered during reconnaissance, the attackers typically send contextually relevant malware-laden spear-phishing emails to the chosen high-ranking corporate official. The only difference? Espionage-as-a-service attacks have an additional component-peddling the stolen data to the highest bidders (typically to the targets’ business rivals) in underground markets or the Deep Web.Īttackers first gather intelligence on the intended target to pinpoint who to bait. How do espionage-as-a-service attacks work?Įspionage-as-a-service attacks use the same tools, tactics, procedures, and components as targeted attacks. They can even hire hackers to do the actual spying for them.įigure 1: Russian underground forum ad for hacking a company’s database Attackers can easily buy the tools they need to spy on and exfiltrate highly confidential corporate data or “company crown jewels” from rivals. Sadly, economic espionage should not only concern nation-states any company, regardless of size, is at risk of losing intellectual property (trade secrets, information on new products and services currently in the works, etc.) to attackers, typically business rivals.Įconomic espionage attacks can be aided by espionage-as-a-service offerings that are readily available in cybercriminal underground forums and markets and the Deep Web.
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In an effort to address this, United States President Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping signed an agreement in September 2015 promising that their countries would not conduct or condone economic espionage in cyberspace against each other. Countries that spend huge amounts on new product, service, or technology research and development stand to lose billions of dollars to economic espionage attacks each year, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) national awareness campaign.