Agricultural Economic Espionage

A Growing Threat You can help the FBI with thwarting Economic Espionage and 

Theft of Trade Secrets

The FBI welcomes any information you have that could assist with disrupting possible 

Agricultural IP theft. Below are questions that will help the FBI understand the threat 

and assist with ongoing investigations. If you can provide answers, please contact 

your local FBI Strategic Partnership Coordinator or FBI field office.

• What information and technology related to the agricultural and biotechnology 

industries are foreign competitors targeting from US businesses, academic and 

research entities?

• What are technology gaps of foreign competitors? Are they lacking R&D, 

manufacturing, production, or operational capability?

• How do US agricultural companies collaborate with US academic and 

government research entities? What agricultural research at US companies and 

academic institutes is supported by federal grants? What agricultural research 

at US academic and government entities is considered proprietary?

• How do foreign competitors keep tabs on US research activity and science 

experts at US companies and academic institutes?

• Which foreign competitors do US companies find most aggressive in pursuing 

US agricultural information and technology? What kind of compromise and 

penetration activities related to theft of sensitive research and commercial 

business information has US companies experienced over the past years?

Contact Information

U. S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

FBI investigations indicate economic espionage and trade secret theft against US 

agricultural and biotechnology companies and institutes is on the rise. Over the past two 

years, foreign actors have targeted and collected against US companies, universities and 

government research facilities for agricultural information concerning plant genome, new 

variety development, breeding programs and advanced manufacturing processes. The 

FBI continues to lead efforts to mitigate, neutralize and disrupt the theft of US agricultural 

intellectual property and trade secrets that could be used by foreign governments or 

foreign companies to gain an unfair economic advantage.
Agricultural Intellectual Property 

and the Threat

Agricultural Intellectual Property (IP) includes 

a company’s trade secrets, proprietary 

information, and research. This ranges from 

farming equipment to genetically-modified 

seeds, which if stolen could result in lost 

revenue, lost employment, damaged reputation, 

lost investment for research and development 

(R&D), and interruption in production.

Who Might Steal Your Intellectual 

Property?

• Domestic and foreign commercial rivals

• Domestic and foreign start-up companies

• Foreign Intelligence Officers (spies)

• Disgruntled employees (insider threat)

• Organized criminals

If your company has a unique product or 

process, you may likely be targeted; therefore 

you should protect it, along with the programs 

and systems that make the company successful. 

This is especially relevant if your company:

• Has a technological edge and employees 

with access to it could be targeted.

• Has developed a process to manufacture 

an item at lower cost than your 

competition.

• Is negotiating with another company, 

especially foreign-based because the 

negotiators and negotiation strategy may 

be targeted.

If your company has invested time and 

resources developing a product or idea—

protect it!

Best Practices to protect 

Agricultural IP

• Assess your company’s information 

security vulnerabilities and fix or 

mitigate the risks associated with those 

vulnerabilities.

• Clearly identify and safeguard critical 

information/IP and mark it accordingly 

(COMPANY PROPRIETARY, PROPIN, 

CONFIDENTIAL, etc.)

• Do not store proprietary information vital 

to your company on any device that 

connects to the Internet.

• Use up-to-date software security tools. 

Many firewalls stop incoming threats, 

but do not restrict outbound data. 

Competitive intelligence hackers try to 

retrieve data stored on your network.

• Educate employees on spear phishing 

email tactics. Establish protocols for 

reporting and quarantining suspicious 

emails.

• Ensure your employees are aware of 

and are trained to avoid unintended 

disclosures.

• Remind employees of security policies 

on a regular basis through active training 

and seminars. Use signs and computer 

banners to reinforce security policies.

• Document employee education and all 

other measures you take to protect your 

intellectual property.

• Ensure human resource policies that 

specifically enhance security and 

company policies are in place. Create 

clear incentives for adhering to company 

security policies.

Please contact your local FBI Strategic Partnership Coordinator, who is 

specially-trained in Economic Espionage and is available to assist you 

with mitigating threats to your organization and intellectual property.

The FBI will minimize the disruption to your business, and safeguard your privacy and your 

data during its investigation. Whenever possible, the FBI will seek protective orders to 

preserve trade secrets and business confidentiality.

Your local FBI Strategic Partnership Coordinators (SPC) can provide a vulnerability selfassessment tool, threat awareness briefings, brochures, and other tools to assist your 

company. If you believe your company may be or is going to be a victim of Intellectual 

Property Theft, contact your SPC or the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination 

Center.

Investigators cannot act if they are not aware of the problem.

You and the FBI: Sowing the seeds of cooperation to defeat the IP threat

You are ultimately responsible for protecting your own intellectual property. Congress has continually 

expanded and strengthened criminal laws for violations of intellectual property rights to protect 

innovation; however, you need to take reasonable steps to protect your intellectual property and 

products, and document those measures. These laws include:

Title 18 U.S.C., Section 1831 – Economic Espionage is (1) whoever knowingly performs targeting or 

acquisition of trade secrets to (2) knowingly benefit any foreign government, foreign instrumentality, 

or foreign agent.

Title 18 U.S.C., section 1832 – Theft of Trade Secrets is (1) whoever knowingly performs targeting 

or acquisition of trade secret or intends to convert a trade secret to (2) knowingly benefit anyone 

other than the owner. This is commonly referred to as Industrial Espionage.