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Employee theft can range from the occasional box of paper clips to millions of dollars in securities. Embezzlement schemes can be hard to discover, often shielded behind confusing arrays of false identities and fictional bank accounts. Surveillance companies are experts in asset searches that will track the activity. 

Not all counter intelligence is about actions aimed directly at your company. Sometimes your organization can be an incidental victim to other criminal activities. Criminals may be stealing employee Social Security numbers or customer credit card information. Hackers can create hidden areas on your servers to host pirated software, child pornography or other illicit files. Again, it can be difficult to discover these operations without the help of experienced counter intelligence specialists.

When performing a physical security evaluation of a surveyed area, a starting point must be established. It might be the door or a corner of the room. No mater where it is, a SYSTEMATIC examination must be performed of everything on or against the walls, progressing in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction until a complete 360 degree circuit of the room has been completed. When checking items, they should be compared with like items whenever possible for weight and composition. If an item doesn’t seem correct, perform a critical examination, to include X-Ray if necessary.  

Industrial espionage is as old as business itself. Anytime there is competition, each company will try to discover the strengths and vulnerabilities of rival vendors. Some methods have changed while others are basically the same as they were centuries ago. If a competitor always seems to be one step ahead of you, maybe it’s because they know more than they should. 

Modern counter intelligence includes complete background checks on employees to discover moles in the organization, office sweeps for electronic listening devices, scans of computers for spyware, and more. The very same information technology that has made it easier to share information within the company and with approved vendors can open doors to allow unauthorized