The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America [Hardcover]

Ronald L. Mendell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0398073899 | ISBN-13: 978-0398073893 | Publication Date: June 2003 | Edition: 1

Industrial espionage is a craft that has evolved over the centuries that remains persistent in its threat. History has shown us that the techniques used today are adaptations of those developed in the sixteenth century and honed through the twentieth century. Accordingly, the text focuses on the similarity of industrial spy craft through time with examples from Anglo-American history. This book will help security professionals to combat industrial (or corporate) espionage in the post-industrial information age by helping to understand its techniques. A primary goal of the book is in giving the reader a real sense of how industrial spies are persistent and clever in circumventing defenses. Another sense the book imparts to the security professional (or the student of security) is that industrial espionage creates paradoxes rather than straightforward, easy solutions. It examines both the defensive and offensive tactics necessary to fight industrial espionage. Living with paradox should be the theme for the security professional, and the book draws wisdom from political philosophers like Machiavelli to aid in that perspective. While the text examines history and discusses security doctrine, it also offers a clear plan of action in dealing with industrial espionage in a fluid, mobile, information-rich business environment. Creating new warriors against the quiet threat is its chief mission.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ronald L. Mendell worked as a legal investigator for thirteen years inquiring into diverse cases ranging from product liability to medical malpractice to financial investigations. He holds a B.S. degree in the Humanities from the University of the State of New York. Currently, he writes on science, technology, and investigative issues. His prior book, How to Do Financial Asset Investigations, 2nd edition, was released by Charles C Thomas, Publisher, Ltd. in late spring 2000. Charles C Thomas also published his book Investigating Computer Crime: A Primer for Security Managers in 1998. He currently works in technical support for a high-tech company in Austin, Texas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd; 1 edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0398073899
• ISBN-13: 978-0398073893
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Can't Do Without" for Security Professionals, December 20, 2008

By 

Nwankama Nwankama - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America (Hardcover)

I came across this book as I did my advanced degree in competitive intelligence at American Military University.

With globalization, outsourcing, consolidation, convergence and the constantly advancing information age in which we find ourselves today, it has become more challenging for businesses and organizations to reconcile the necessity to be inclusive and open with the need for security. Chances for unwitting and seemingly unavoidable loss of competitive secrets have multiplied, even as information thieves have become more stealthy; always seeming to be a step ahead of contemporary security measures. Mendell shows how twenty-first century business dynamics have made it such that partners and associates are easily turning to aggressors before some companies realize it. This is not fear-mongering. The threats are real , as this book shows. The threat to the integrity of the competitive information of US firms is quite serious. Yet, such information seem to be at the mercy of highly sophisticated and motivated national and international information hoodlums. But no more can these thugs operate with ease. In The Quite Threat, Mr. Mendell has crafted a handbook for every company or organization in the United States that has any competitive secret at all to protect. Indeed, as the book states, "friendly competitors don't exist - whether domestic of foreign." Yet, this book goes beyond enabling security professionals to sharpen their skills as spy catchers, but to make them super experts in counterintelligence and as collectors of intelligence themselves. In other words this book emphasizes proactive intelligence strategies more than reactive techniques. Indeed, it creates agents on the offensive. My fear is that in spite of this book, many firms will still underestimate the threat that they face until something happens, when the damage is already done. I decry the fact that despite the sordid espionage cases that abound, as this book shows, many executives still think that it can't happen to them until it's too late.

There are many other books that address corporate espionage but, I seriously recommend this book because it is very comprehensive and yet precise - with only about 184 information-packed pages (Nwankama Nwankama).