TravisDeyle.com

There was an article (via Digg) that discusses an estimated 1,000 industrial espionage "spies" from China operating in Canada... curious.

From the article:

Information and technology that has been the target of economic espionage includes trade and pricing information, investment strategy, contract details, supplier lists, planning documents, research and development data, technical drawings and computer databases.

Sectors considered sensitive and likely targets of foreign interest, CSIS says, include aerospace, biotechnology, chemicals, communications, information technology, mining, nuclear energy, oil and environmental technologies.

Foreign students and scientists, business delegations and Chinese immigrants are among those used as informants, says the spy agency.

Of course, we can be sure Canada is not the only target. Given incidents such as Titan Rain (the crazy coordinated attack on American computer systems), we can be fairly certain they're targeting the United States as well.

Now, we shouldn't be too hard on China; even some of our closest allies (the French) have publicly stated that they actively pursue industrial espionage against the United States. There is even a case study that discusses the issue. The retired director (Pierre Marion) of the French spy agency (the Central External Security Directorate or DGSE) is quoted as saying:

This espionage activity is an essential way for France to keep abreast of international commerce and technology. Of course, it was directed against the United States as well as others. You must remember that while we are allies in defense matters, we are also economic competitors in the world.

How to solve this problem? It really boils down to a risk-benefits analysis. It is discussed very well by Bruce Schneier in Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World. Definitely a read for anyone interested in physical and information security.

NOTE:  This post originally appeared on Hizook.com, which has been transformed into a robotics-centric website.  To preserve all of my original posts, I've transferred the content to my new homepage TravisDeyle.com.  I also encourage you to scope out the new Hizook!