When people think about protecting intellectual property, they often assume that it starts and ends with patents, copyrights or trademarks. They believe that when they secure these, they will be sufficient in protecting the material.
However, unscrupulous parties hoping to access protected material have several ways they will attempt to get what they want. Thus, it is crucial to put safeguards in place throughout your supply chain.
Targeting weak links
As an example of these deceitful efforts, we can look at the Covid-19 vaccine. The companies developing the vaccine likely have various sophisticated and effective measures to protect vaccines.
However, parties from Iran, Chila, Russia and North Korea are reportedly attempting to infiltrate other organizations in an effort to gain access to classified information.
Instead of targeting companies like Pfizer or Moderna, countries are allegedly launching phishing attempts at companies that provide cold storage for the vaccine. Distributors, public health institutions and other suppliers could also be at risk of being compromised.
Know the risk, reinforce protections
Efforts like phishing are designed to gain access to protected information by appearing to be a legitimate entity. Parties might send an email requesting information, set up websites that track data without a user’s knowledge or manipulate links to reroute users.
It is crucial to understand phishing and other ways parties can try to steal information or spy on organizations so that you can put protective measures in place.
And these measures should not just be in place at your company. All parties who play a role in designing, manufacturing or selling your service or product should have protective protocols and tools to secure information. Failure at any of these points along the supply chain could result in leaked data and compromised security.
While you may understand that protecting intellectual property is critical, you may not know how to do it. Rather than make guesses or assumptions that result in costly oversights, you can consult professionals familiar with the legal and technical solutions you need.