U.S. Business Suffers From Effects Of Economic Spies

U.S.-based businesses may have lost at least $300 billion worth of intellectual property to foreign and domestic spies last year, according to a new survey.

More than 1,100 documented incidents of economic espionage and 550 suspected incidents were reported by major companies in a survey conducted by the American Society for Industrial Security.

High-tech companies were the most frequent targets of foreign spies, followed by manufacturing and service industries, according to the survey. The spies targeted research and development strategies, manufacturing and marketing plans and customer lists.

Surveys by the society are used by the federal government to estimate the potential damage from economic espionage, and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh has cited them in congressional testimony. Details of the survey, which is scheduled to be released Feb. 1., were published Monday by the Los Angeles Times.

The survey ranked the United States, China, Japan, France and the United Kingdom as major offenders in economic espionage. Former and current employees, temporary staff, vendors and consultants were cited as most likely culprits.

The FBI doesn’t identify governments it suspects of such spying, but a recent article in the industry magazine Public Administration Review listed France, Germany, Israel, China and South Korea as major offenders.