Related topics: cyberattack

Is that new doll spying on your kids?

What if strangers are using one of your child's toys to spy on them? In the new world of connected toys, truth can be spookier than fiction.

Bail hearing set for Canadian accused in Yahoo email hack

A Canadian man of Kazakh origins who was arrested in a massive hack of Yahoo emails appeared briefly via video link in a Hamilton, Ontario court on Friday where a date has been set for his bail hearing.

False clues make it tough to find WADA hackers

Medical data from some of the world's leading athletes has been posted to the web and the World Anti-Doping Agency says Russians are to blame. Even the hackers seem to agree, adopting the name "Fancy Bears"—a moniker long ...

Analysis: US-China agreement on cybertheft a first step

China's pledge to help crack down on hackers who steal commercial secrets from the United States, even coming as it did amid a bit of arm-twisting by President Barack Obama, is a big breakthrough that could reduce U.S.-China ...

WikiLeaks says NSA spied on French business

WikiLeaks has released documents that it says show that the U.S. National Security Agency eavesdropped on France's top finance officials and high-stakes French export bids over a decade in what the group called targeted economic ...

US charges China academics in trade theft scheme

US prosecutors have charged six Chinese nationals, including three university professors, with a years-long scheme to steal mobile phone technology trade secrets for Beijing's benefit.

Dynamic encryption keeps secrets

Professor Lars Ramkilde Knudsen from DTU Compute has invented a new way to encrypt telephone conversations that makes it very difficult to 'eavesdrop'. His invention can help to curb industrial espionage.

No chance for industrial pirates

In the future, production facilities will be able to communicate and interact with one another, and machinery will often be remote-serviced. But no company boss wants to run the risk of opening the door to industrial espionage ...

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Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it is known that the information is in unauthorized hands.[clarification needed this should be clearer lest people not understand it]

Espionage is usually part of an institutional effort by a government or corporation, and the term is most readily associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies primarily for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage.

One of the most effective ways to gather data and information about an enemy (or potential enemy) is by infiltrating the enemy's ranks. This is the job of the spy. Spies can bring back all sorts of information concerning the size and strength of an enemy army. They can also find dissidents within the enemy's forces and influence them to defect. In times of crisis, spies can also be used to steal technology and to sabotage the enemy in various ways. Counterintelligence operatives can feed false information to enemy spies, protecting important domestic secrets and preventing attempts at subversion. Nearly every society has very strict laws concerning espionage, and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits that can be gained through espionage are generally felt to outweigh the risks.

Further information on clandestine HUMINT (human intelligence) information collection techniques is available, including discussions of operational techniques, asset recruiting and the tradecraft used to collect this information.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA