Spies in Our Midst

間諜就在你身邊Corporate spying – easier than you think 企業間諜活動──比想像中更容易 by Simon Stopps

You hit print and head to the break room. It's been a long week, but your sales report is finally finished. After a quick cup of coffee, you wander down the hall to the printer. But by the time you get there, your report is gone! Is something wrong with the printer? Or have you just been a victim of corporate espionage?

Corporate espionage - businesses spying on competing businesses - is a growing concern for companies of all sizes. In America alone, corporate spying is thought to cost thousands of jobs and billions of dollars a year. These losses make it difficult for companies to justify the cost of innovations that could easily be stolen by their competitors.

At its core, corporate espionage is about gaining an unfair advantage over competitors. This might mean stealing customers or employees, but sometimes it also means more serious things like blackmail and theft. Most corporate spies don't have a lot in common with super spies like James Bond. But like other spies, they do focus on achieving specific goals - they want to find out something about or do something to a competitor. To achieve their goals, corporate spies gather information.

Understanding the importance of information is often the key to foiling corporate espionage. Many companies try to protect themselves by developing expensive electronic security. While there is value in securing online information, companies must recognize the difference between information security and IT security.

For many companies, the best defense is making information less accessible to competitors. But that isn't always as easy as it sounds. Information about companies, products and technologies is easier to acquire now more than ever before. The Internet, press releases and trade shows all provide a wealth of information to anyone who is paying attention.

Other sources of information can also be easily overlooked. Notes from a meeting, a forgotten USB drive or a copy of a report can contain as much information as computer files. And these can be easy for spies to get their hands on. Establishing strategic policies that manage these kinds of information is an important step. More importantly, companies often fail to realize that they are not the only ones who suffer the effects of corporate espionage. Corporate spying also poses a great risk to the livelihoods of employees. Consequently, informed and wary employees are often the best defense money can buy.

Grammar Tips:
And these can be easy for spies to get their hands on.
"to get one's hands on" = "to get something for the purpose of doing harm"
Putting your wallet in your back pocket can make it easy for thieves to get their hands on it.
How her little brother was able to get his hands on her diary is still a mystery to Sarah.
"to lay one's hands on something" is same meaning as" to get one's hands on".
I don't' appreciate Dennis joke, just wait until I lay my hands on him.
If my friend sees a new pair of shoes, I just know she will lay her hands on it. (person likes shoes a lot)

Vocabulary Tips:
corporate espionage-企業間諜活動 corporate-企業，組織, espionage-（從事）間諜活動。
industrial espionage = corporate espionage.
*the company is charged with industrial espionage. 被指控，被起訴。。
military espionage - 軍事間諜活動
core- 水果的核，核心，最重要的部分，a center of fruit or apple, the center, the most important thing or place.
*The core problem is their low budget. 低預算
*The core of the training is building up students' self-confidence.
blackmail-勒索，敲詐勒索，黑函
*Someone is trying to balckmail John with evidence of his receiving a bribe.
blackmail someone into doing something-敲詐勒索某人去做某事。
*The defendant claimed that he was balckmailed into helping the mob. 被告申述。。被人威脅去。。
foil -制止，阻止，防止
*His attempt to cheat on his exam was foiled by his brother. 被。。阻止
*The prisoners' plan to escape was foiled by the warden. 被典獄長所制止。
*The thief's attempt to steal my wallet was foiled, and he ran away.
strategic (adj) 重音在"te"-策略性的，有戰略性的 strategy (n)-策略，計策
*He is in charge of the strategic planning of the marketing department.
*The island is in a strategic position, so all countries nearby want to claim ownership.
livelihood- 生計，營生，賴以爲生的（討生活） the way to make money for living. live-生活
*Many miners may lose their livelihoods because the mine is being shut down. 礦工
*The bakery is Ricky's livelihood. 麵包店是。。賴以爲生的。

Chat Room:
super spy James Bond -超級間諜。。
spy-間諜
spying job-從事間諜工作，spying -偵查，監視暗中調查工作 "on" 。
Stop spying on me -停止監視。。監視調查什麽人或事後面 要加介係詞 "on"，James Bond spy on his enemies.
spy- 也指，“看見”，“發現”
to spy something -看見或發現什麽。
He spied a stranger entering the house. 看見有陌生人進入。。
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a wealth of information - 豐富的資訊
wealth -財富，丰富，富有。abundant, a lot, many.
wealthy (adj) -豐富的，很多的。
He is a wealthy person in friends. (in talents)
a wealth of information -很豐富的資訊。
He has a wealth of talents-很有才華，有豐富的才能。
a man with a wealth of experience. 這人有很豐富的經驗。
a country wealthy in natural resources. 這國家有豐富的天然資源。