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>> Stuck in part-time contracts? Supplement your income through part-time work in the field of industrial espionage

by PHILIP PREVILLE

Beginning next Monday, hundreds of the most powerful government and business officials in the world will gather in our city for the fourth edition of the Montreal Conference. Over three days, they will meet in a downtown hotel to discuss the issues that matter most to wealthy and important people such as themselves.

And, as with all skilled accumulators of wealth, they like to discuss what to do about people who steal their stuff.

The Montreal Conference's agenda includes a half-day session titled "Intellectual Property and Industrial Espionage." The description of the session explains that, according to the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), industrial espionage has grown by 260 per cent in the last decade. And a recent ASIS study shows that less than 40 per cent of companies in North America have the necessary security in place to combat the problem.

If you are an industrial magnate, these are worrisome figures. But, if, like most people, you are not an industrial magnate, those figures sound like an offer you can't refuse.

Not only is the time ripe to get yourself a piece of the corporate spy pie, but Montreal is the place to do it. "Montreal is a hotbed for this kind of activity," says Chris Mather, president of KPMG Corporate Intelligence Inc., the security-consulting subsidiary of counting-house conglomerate KPMG. The local economy boasts a high concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturers, aerospace firms, software developers and international umbrella organizations. That means Montreal's computer networks are bursting with research formulae, design specifications, proprietary software code and sensitive government information--all of which can be sold on the black market to competitors for a tidy profit.

Plus, companies victimized by such white-collar burglars don't like to tell the cops about it. For one thing, says Sgt. André Guertin of the RCMP, informing the police means making the theft public, and admitting the theft of a trade secret can send your stock price tumbling. For another, such pilfering is extremely hard to prove. "Say you work for Cadbury, and you steal the Caramilk secret and use it to make chocolate with a company in Sweden. Who's to say the other company didn't figure it out themselves?"

"Industrial espionage is considered a fairly risk-free venture," says Dan Swartwood, director of security for Houston-based Compaq Computer and co-author of the ASIS report. "It's not the kind of situation where suddenly boxes of stuff are missing from inventory. You get on a computer, copy information to a disk, and leave. After you're done, it's still right there where you left it." In most cases, says Swartwood, companies don't realize the theft has occurred until it's too late.

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Industrial espionage, now more commonly known as "the market in competitive intelligence," is not at all like what you see in the movies. There are few Pierce Brosnan or Tom Cruise look-alikes, no intrepid men of mystery forging security passes, hanging from wires above weight-sensitive floors or flying helicopters through tunnels. Most theft is perpetrated by exceedingly ordinary people bent on serving up their own chilly dish of Dilbert's Revenge. Says Swartwood: "Never underestimate the power of an administrative assistant. They have the same power as their bosses, the same access to information, and they're paid less."

Even computer hacking, the most romanticized crime of the fin de siècle, is not as prevalent as it is made out to be--although, according to KPMG's Mather, there are some pretty impressive scams going on. "Some hackers set up Web sites that offer free porn or whatever, provided you use a password. Most people use the same password all the time, so they voluntarily give up their office password in exchange for the porn. Then these hackers use it to break into office networks."

But in most cases, the experts agree, you don't have to be that clever--despite many companies' impressive display of security. From the outside, Montreal's big research and development companies seem like fortresses, with magnetized employee ID cards and security checkpoints at every entrance. But from a strategic perspective, Swartwood says, they've got it all wrong. "The fences and the security guards are designed to keep people out. But the problem is the people on the inside."

And in the age of part-time and contract work, getting inside is the easy part. According to the ASIS study, the groups most likely to pilfer a company's intellectual property are consultants, part-time employees, contract employees, and temps. And once you're through the outside bulwark, Swartwood says, the inside job is a piece of cake: "Less than three per cent of security budgets get spent on computer network security." Despite all the security checkpoints, guards are not in the habit of ferreting through briefcases, so leaving with documents and diskettes often goes unnoticed.

Even if someone does suspect the theft and calls the police, the scene can be embarrassing for the company. "The first thing the cops will ask is, 'What was the value of the stolen property?'" says Mather, who spent 20 years in undercover money-laundering operations for the RCMP before jumping to the private sector. "The answer is always, 'It was worth millions!' And then the police say yes, we understand, but what was the value of the stolen property? How many pieces of paper, how many computer disks, and what are they worth?"

Of course, once the thief has a loaded Zip disk in hand, he or she must find a buyer for the information. Mather says most successful thieves have a purchaser lined up prior to the theft itself. Other, less well-connected novices simply approach their local cocaine pusher. "Organized crime guys will never say no," Mather explains. "They'll beat the bushes and see if they can broker a deal."