The case of industrial espionage which currently opposes the French giant Renault and the automobile weekly magazine “Auto Plus” reveals a type of informational threats that competitive intelligence responsibles generally prefer to occult: the existence of moles within the company!
More than a sin per omission
Even in the reference handbooks of competitive intelligence (CI), very few experts dares to approach the cases of internal treason within the company. By psychological safety more than by omission, the CI community was up to now satisfied to think that the informational threats come from outside (competitors, State or civil society…) and a little less from inside the company (technical features, human negligence or error). However, just like twins, CI devices must face on the existence of spies or moles, as well as the traditional intelligence services.
Potential candidates with treason
As in the secret services thus, the company mole recruits itself in the fish pond of the hardest competitor, preferably in the sector leader or the one having the most consistent budget in research and development. Man or woman, the company mole is a brillant person, having a perfect control of his files, generally out of any suspicion and absolutely sociable. A polyglot angel. Working in the neuralgic middle of the company, he often occupies important functions at the direction of the strategy, R& D, IF, or innovation. However, the spy recruits himself also easily near the services of hygiene and safety of the company, among the trainees, the temporary ones, the headhunters or of the appointed journalists. All is function of the goal and the fault detected by treating. But the most asticious approach undoubtedly remains the recruitment of a mole within the CI cell of competitors.
Why one betrayes his company
In the community of the economic Intelligence as in that of the traditional Intelligence agencies, “seven deadly sins” were indexed which can push an officer, an employee or a framework to distract strategic informations from his company and give them to competition or the press: 1 – money, 2 - sex, 3 – power, 4 – pride, 5 – frustration, 6 – ideology or 7 – blackmail. A list which, a priori, interests all the personnel. And it is so much better. But to be effective, it should be tightened, thanks to individualized and periodical profilings of high-risk subjects.
Which solutions to prevent or uncover?
This question calls in premium the size of the company and its CI structure. But in all the cases of figure and without entering in detail, the DHR will accentuate upstream the profiling and the preliminary investigations at the time of recruitment of a candidate in a significant classified sector or for a training course. Thereafter, except the tasks of monitoring traditionally reserved for the CI poles, the direction will have to find a personalized follow-up of the neuralgic stations for purposes to note and probe possible changes in the behavior and the daily life of the target, of course, in the respect of ethics and legality. No police company! The introduction of a climate of good intelligence by dialogue (Intranet, coffee machine, private conversation) and of the internal public relations will make it possible for example to put the people in confidence and thus, to be able to ask questions already raised in a preceding file or during the recruiting process without, waking up the attention. The objective is to detect if the employee varies in his answers. Or simply, if he feels developed, recognized and respected within the company (…) Guy Gweth
