Stealing Business Secrets

Imagine that your business is going through a very competitive tendering process and in the process of trying to secure a very lucrative contract. You would like to keep all your information away from the competing companies wouldn't you? I know I would. Let me tell you about a company that didn't.
Expression of interest
This company decided to submit a tender for a contract that its main competitor was also tendering for. Tendering for contracts is a long process and needs to comply with various requirements throughout the entire process. At the EOI stage every business knew who else was tendering for the contract because they met at the EOI meeting with the prospective client.
What happened next?
All of the tendering companies went back to work on developing the tender documents with their management team. All except for one company, who also decided to go one step further. This company decided to see if they could get some idea of the tender proposal from their competitor so they could adjust theirs where required to increase the likelihood of success.
A month of two goes past
A new cleaner is going through his induction training in a large corporate building. The induction process shows him how to move about the building and clean all the offices. The cleaning supervisor assigns him the top floors because of his impressive English skills and dedication to cleaning. He picks up the duties fast and seems keen to get to work.
Graveyard security detail
The new cleaner goes to the security guard on nightshift and asks for his ID card and keys to clean the executive offices tonight. The guard is watching TV and slides across an old key register for the master keys and hands a generic master access ID card to the new cleaner. The guard doesn't notice that the cleaner just signs the pages with no name in the appropriate columns.
Getting dirty
The new cleaner gets his equipment, including a rubbish trolley, and makes his way up to the executive floor. During the night there are only the two cleaners and one security guard, so the cleaner is feeling confident that it will be over shortly.
Going down
After a couple of hours the cleaner is back down and heading out to the bins to empty his rubbish bags and have a smoke. The security guard opens the loading bay shutter and leaves the cleaner to his smoke. After the guard has left the cleaner takes a rubbish bag and walks down the road to his parked car and puts the bag in the boot. The cleaner goes back to work and finishes his shift.
Months Later
The company lost the tender bid due to its competitor beating it on price and having similar OHS processes in place. Management thought it was strange that the competitor beat its price by a very close margin on all its schedule rates.
© Copyright 2008 by Paul Baker
Information supplied by Paul Baker
Over twenty years security & risk management experience across Australia to protect corporate clients from critical incidents and security risks.
Previously served in the Military and expert in explosives, weapons, and information gathering techniques.
Achieved formal qualifications in a wide range of security risk management skills and commendations for crisis response operations