In the fiercely competitive world of business, competitive intelligence has become a critical component of a company's competitive advantage. And you can bet if you're in business, your competition is trying to get information on your company. According to Harvard Management Update , companies leak damaging information to their competition all the time through oversights like careless conversations, overzealous press releases and Web sites that contain too much information. But as information can also be obtained subversively, every company should take a few basic information-security precautions. A good place to start is with company E-mail.
Few people realize that E-mail can be intercepted by unauthorized sources.
By encrypting it, a company can protect against potentially damaging leaks. Company computer systems should also be protected against hackers by setting up perimeter security that includes firewalls and intrusion-detection systems. And all employees using computers should be required to use alpha-numeric passwords and to change them on a regular basis. The key is to identify the information your competition wants most and find ways to ensure they never get it. All rights reserved .