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Intellectual Property Security: Don't Lose Your Head

Intellectual property isn't always easy to identify. It's even harder to protect. Here's how CSOs can work with others to protect their companies' future.

By Simone Kaplan

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Once you understand your organization's products, research and intellectual capital base, and you've established a pattern of communication with other departments, then you've formed the base on which to begin to build an IP protection plan. CSOs who have been protecting intellectual property for years recommend doing a risk vulnerability and cost-benefit analysis at this point. Make a map of your company's assets, noting which are considered the most valuable. Determine what information, if lost, would hurt your company the most. Then decide which of those assets are most at risk of being stolen.

It's What's Inside That Counts

Initially, it may look like most of the threats to your intellectual property are external, but that's typically not the case. No matter what your industry, intellectual property is lost or stolen in the same ways: insecure IT systems, disloyal workers or social engineering.

Whether careless, clueless or downright malicious, employees are the conduit through which IP is most frequently compromised. It's easy for employees to forget the role their work plays in the company at large, and they don't always remember that discussing a project at a cocktail party can put the company at risk. Business lunches and plane trips, in particular, are black holes for intellectual property—employees are talking to one person, while someone else eavesdrops or takes a peek at one of the employee's laptop screen.

Many employees have a hard time equating the importance of what they do with the long-term value of the company, says Lynn Mattice, director of corporate security for Boston Scientific's global operations. "They think they're working on a tiny part of a larger puzzle, so what's the big deal if they talk about it at dinner? You have to get them to understand the criticality of their job, how it fits into the larger picture and affects everyone in the company. Personalize it for themmake them see the personal impact of losing IP."

Sometimes, employees give away crucial information for personal reasons, without knowing it. For example, your industry may employ people with PhDs who, to stay certified, must publish field-related research. Often that poses a problem for employers that don't want proprietary intellectual property to become common knowledge. "We want them to publish," Pontrelli says, "but you can't allow them to talk about what they're working on because that would be of great interest to competitors."

Outside Looking In

Vendors and suppliers are always curious about what a company is up to, and employees are sometimes too willing to share that information with them. Engineers might enthusiastically explain a top secret project to a supplier just because the supplier asked about a certain part. You might work with outsiders on a regular basis, but they have no obligation to keep that information secret, particularly if they do business with competitors.