| 1 | Electronic theft by foreign and industrial spies and disgruntled employees is costing U.S. companies billions and eroding their international competitive advantage . |
| 2 | That was the message delivered by government and private security experts at an all - day conference on corporate electronic espionage . |
| 3 | “ Hostile and even friendly nations routinely steal information from U.S. companies and share it with their own companies , ” said Noel D. Matchett , a former staffer at the federal National Security Agency and now president of Information Security Inc. , Silver Spring , Md . |
| 4 | It “ may well be ” that theft of business data is “ as serious a strategic threat to national security ” as it is a threat to the survival of victimized U.S. firms , said Michelle Van Cleave , the White House 's assistant director for National Security Affairs . |
| 5 | The conference was jointly sponsored by the New York Institute of Technology School of Management and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association , a joint industry - government trade group . |
| 6 | Any secret can be pirated , the experts said , if it is transmitted over the air . |
| 7 | Even rank amateurs can do it if they spend a few thousand dollars for a commercially available microwave receiver with amplifier and a VCR recorder . |
| 8 | They need only position themselves near a company 's satellite dish and wait . |
| 9 | “ You can have a dozen competitors stealing your secrets at the same time , ” Mr. Matchett said , adding : “ It 's a pretty good bet they wo n't get caught . ” |
| 10 | The only way to catch an electronic thief , he said , is to set him up with erroneous information . |
| 11 | Even though electronic espionage may cost U.S. firms billions of dollars a year , most are n't yet taking precautions , the experts said . |
| 12 | By contrast , European firms will spend <dollar> 150 million this year on electronic security , and are expected to spend <dollar> 1 billion by 1992 . |
| 13 | Already many foreign firms , especially banks , have their own cryptographers , conference speakers reported . |
| 14 | Still , encrypting corporate communications is only a partial remedy . |
| 15 | One expert , whose job is so politically sensitive that he spoke on condition that he would n't be named or quoted , said the expected influx of East European refugees over the next few years will greatly increase the chances of computer - maintenance workers , for example , doubling as foreign spies . |
| 16 | Moreover , he said , technology now exists for stealing corporate secrets after they 've been “ erased ” from a computer 's memory . |
| 17 | He said that Oliver North of Iran - Contra notoriety thought he had erased his computer but that the information was later retrieved for congressional committees to read . |
| 18 | No personal computer , not even the one on a chief executive 's desk , is safe , this speaker noted . |
| 19 | W. Mark Goode , president of Micronyx Inc. , a Richardson , Texas , firm that makes computer - security products , provided a new definition for Mikhail Gorbachev 's campaign for greater openness , known commonly as glasnost . |
| 20 | Under Mr. Gorbachev , Mr. Goode said , the Soviets are openly stealing Western corporate communications . |
| 21 | He cited the case of a Swiss oil trader who recently put out bids via telex for an oil tanker to pick up a cargo of crude in the Middle East . |
| 22 | Among the responses the Swiss trader got was one from the Soviet national shipping company , which had n't been invited to submit a bid . |
| 23 | The Soviets ' eavesdropping paid off , however , because they got the contract . |