New Age Espionage: Businesses on the Front Line

When we think of the secretive world of Espionage, what comes to mind are the thrilling spy stories of the Cold War where the CIA and the KGB represented the “secret” front line. As an ever-evolving and adaptive field, espionage has infiltrated the economic realm to continue shaping global dynamics covertly. With private businesses becoming increasingly linked to the geo-political context we find ourselves in, economic espionage has now taken the lead as an economic threat for organisations, and a national security threat to states. But how has espionage truly changed? What is the role of insiders in economic espionage? And how can businesses protect themselves and the national security interests of their country from compromise?

Whilst the art of espionage has been an asset for thousands of years, it became the forefront of conflicts and political affairs throughout the late years of World War II and the subsequent Cold War. Indeed, traditional espionage revolved around gathering political and military information, spreading disinformation, carrying out assassinations, and catalysing regime changes.