Investigation of Corporate Espionage

The experienced business investigators of Aaden Detective Agency Stuttgart are available to affected companies in order to identify the perpetrators, masterminds, and channels involved in unwanted information outflows from the company: +49 711 7153 011-0.

Computer Espionage | Security Technology

Opportunities to obtain sensitive data often arise due to insufficient security precautions: via the internet, data on company computers and corporate servers can be spied on; visitors to offices and production facilities hide tiny video and audio recording devices in business premises or, in an unobserved moment, attach external data storage devices that install spyware on the PC. To protect you from such intrusions, the security specialists of Aaden Detective Agency Stuttgart examine your company for security vulnerabilities and advise you regarding suitable security technology.

Sensitive Data – Discreet Investigations

Far more frequently than access by external individuals, industrial espionage is carried out by the company’s own employees who—depending on their area of responsibility—can access your company data inconspicuously and at any time or install the aforementioned technology throughout the company. Conventional copying or photographing of documents also serves perpetrators in obtaining sensitive company data. The reasons for employees’ disloyal behavior are as varied as the technical possibilities: disappointed employees who are dissatisfied with their workplace or salary and wish to “take revenge”; corrupt employees who are paid by a competing company for their espionage activities, etc.

In cases of corporate espionage by employees, there is an enormous risk that the damage has already reached fatal proportions before the act is detected. It is therefore advisable to engage professional investigators at the very first sign of suspicion. The competent business detectives of Aaden Detective Agency Stuttgart are highly experienced in proving industrial espionage and identifying the perpetrators, and they obtain detailed, court-admissible evidence. Naturally, due to the sensitivity of the matter, every case is handled with the utmost discretion: info@aaden-detektive-stuttgart.de.

Legal Aspects of Industrial Espionage

From a criminal law perspective, the following offenses are distinguished in connection with corporate espionage:

• Anyone who unlawfully obtains or secures such a secret by using technical means, producing a physical reproduction, or removing an item is liable to prosecution for prohibited espionage (§ 17 para. 2 no. 1 UWG).
• Anyone who unlawfully exploits or discloses a secret that was obtained through the betrayal of a company employee or through their own unlawful or unethical actions may be prosecuted for exploitation or unauthorized disclosure (§ 17 para. 2 no. 2 UWG).
• Anyone who unlawfully discloses a business or trade secret entrusted to them as a public official, a person with special obligations in public service, or a publicly appointed expert, or otherwise made known to them, may be prosecuted for breach of private secrets (§ 203 StGB).
• Anyone who, as a public official or a person formally obligated by an official authority to maintain secrecy, unlawfully allows an object or information to be passed on to another person and thereby endangers important public interests may be prosecuted for violation of a special duty of confidentiality pursuant to § 353b StGB. This provision protects confidential objects below the level of state secrets (for example, in competition between providers vis-à-vis the tax authorities). Prosecution requires authorization (in particular from a highest federal or state authority).
• Anyone who unlawfully obtains data for themselves or another party that is stored or transmitted electronically, magnetically, or otherwise not directly perceptible and is specially secured against unauthorized access may be prosecuted for data espionage (computer espionage) pursuant to § 202a StGB. The methods used by domestic and foreign companies for the purpose of corporate espionage largely correspond to those of state intelligence services.

(Source: Wirtschaftslexikon24)