SPY STORY Part 2
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057139 |
| Published date | 01 October 1980 |
| Pages | 27-27 |
| Date | 01 October 1980 |
| Author | Peter Heims |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
SPY STORY
Part
2
By
Peter
Heims
What the Managing Director's
Secretary told the works' convenor
THE CLASSIFICATION
of
"indus-
trial
spy"
will
not be
found
in the
list
of those persons eligible
for
Rotary,
but this does
not
mean that there
are
not some persons who follow this pro-
fession; there are,
and
they
are
just
as
dedicated
as any
dcoctor
or
lawyer
as
to how they handle their assignments.
To
be
able
to
steal secrets necessi-
tates
a spy
being able
to
navigate him-
self into
a
position where
he has
access
or
sight
of
those secrets;
an
easy
but
hazardous
way
would
be to
break into
the
factory
or
office where
those secrets
are
stored. These
methods
are
used
but
there
are
other
more sophisticated
and
less danger-
ous.
The
best method
is for the spy to
obtain employment within
the
com-
pany
in
that area where
he
will even-
tually find himself
in a
position
to
catch sight
of
classified information.
Our
spy
will apply
for the
position
advertised using
a
false name
and
references.
The
testimonials will
be
false,
typed
on
specially prepared
headed notepaper;
it
will
be
antici-
pated that
a
vetting check will
be
made
and
offices
at
addresses shown
on
the
testimonials will have been
rented with telephones installed.
Consequently
the
Personnel Depart-
ment checking
the
references will
even have
the
telephone enquiry ans-
wered, perhaps even
by the spy
him-
self.
Eventually
the
industrial agent will
be able
to
photograph
a
copy
or
com-
mit
to
memory
the
information that
he
is
seeking. Surprisingly
as it may
seem,
he can do
this without breaking
the
law.
Industrial espionage
in the
United Kingdom
is not a
crime.
Crimes
may be
committed
in the
pur-
suit
of
industrial espionage such
as
burglarly, bribery, conversion,
infringement
of the
prevention
of
Curruption
Act and of the
Wireless
and Telegraphy
Act of
1949.
For example, anyone photostating
a blueprint
on a
company machine
can
be
charged under
the
Theft
Act of
1968
for
stealing paper
and
toner.
Section
13 of the Act
also covers
the
diversion
of
any electricity.
It
is
rather ludicrous that
a
person
who breaks into
an
office
of a
com-
pany
and
steals £50 from
the
safe
can
go
to
prison
yet a
person
who
remem-
bers
a
secret that
he
gives
to
another
company
is
untouchable.
Yet
such
a
person does infinitely more damage
to
the
company than
the thief.
Although
the
United Kingdom
is a
member
oif the EEC, it is the
only
country
in the
Common Market that
does
not
have laws prohibiting indus-
trial espionage
and
protecting secrets.
Many countries have laws whereby
offenders
can be
sent
to
prison.
The
spy,
during
his
period
of
emp-
loyment, will also
be
able
to
collate
any information that comes his way
by
collecting items from waste paper
bins,
used executive typewriter rib-
bons
and
idle gossip.
On the
occasions
that
I am
called
in to
investigate leak-
ages,
I
have
a
practice whereby
I
send
a number
of my
employees into
my
client's factory
or
premises
at
about
5
pm. They wear overalls
and go
round
emptying
all the
wastepaper bins
and,
strangely,
no one
ever challenges
them. Once
the
staff have gone
a
sur-
vey
is
made
of the
offices where
the
secretary's shorthand notebook,
doodlings etc.
are
collected.
The object
of the
exercise
is to
place ourselves
in the
position
of
a
spy
and
see
what information could
be
collected with
the
minimum
of
trou-
ble.
It is
amazing
the
information
obtained.
We
learn
who is
having
an
affair with whom
and in
fact once
found that
the
Managing Director's
personal secretary
had as her
lover
the works convener–one
can
imagine
management secrets divulged
in an
industrial dispute.
The obvious method
of
infiltration
is posing
as a
secretary, typist
or
clerk.
However, Louis Moreau
in his
book
"So
You
want to
be an
Industrial
Spy"
describes other disguises
to
adopt
to
gain entry into
a
competitors prem-
ises.
One must
not
loose sight
of
the fact
that information
can be
gathered
by
the
use of
technical devices such
as
electronic bugs. This
is not as
great
a
danger
as one
would imagine,
but it
nevertheless exists.
A bug is a
radio
transistor which comes
in all
shapes
and sizes
and
will broadcast
a
conver-
sation
to a
receiver
up to 200
yards
away. Many manufacturers advertise
that their transistor will operate
up to
a distance
of
half
a
mile,
but my
experience
has
shown this
to be an
exaggerated claim.
In
the
United Kingdom,
use of
such
an item is
a
contravention of the Wire-
less
and
Telegraphy
Act
1949,
in
that
a transmission
is
being made without
a licence.
The
particular part
of the
law being invoked is purely coinciden-
tal
for it
was
not
originally formulated
to stop bugging;
it
was included
in the
Act
to
stop
"ham" or
radio amateurs
broadcasting without
a
licence.
It
is
generally accepted
by
those
in
the security industry that
the
laws
governing bugging should
be
drasti-
cally altered.
It
should
be an
offence
to manufacture, sell,
buy,
import,
export, use
or
even have
a
bug in one's
possession.
The
penalty should
be
very severe, such
as a
two-year term
of imprisonment and/or
a
fine
of
£1,000.
■
PETER
A.
HEIMS FBIM
has
been
a security investigator undertaking
counter-industrial
espionage
for
twenty-
five years.
He has
lectured
on the
subject
in
Britain,
the USA and
South
Africa.
Mr
Heims
is a
Past President
of
The Association
of
British
Investigators
and
a
Past President
of the
Council
of
International Investigators.
NOVEMBER
1980 27
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