According to Strauss (1999), corporate counterintelligence is the other side of competitive intelligence because it represents the process by which companies defend their internal information.

The classical counterintelligence process at all levels includes four steps: 1) develop a counterintelligence estimate; 2) conduct counterintelligence surveys; 3) develop the counterintelligence plan; 4) implement appropriate counterintelligence measures (USMC, 2007, p. 1-5).

As mentioned earlier, businesses can easily become a target of foreign intelligence organizations, competitors or corporate spies. According to Steve Whitehead, a lifelong security expert in the field of counterespionage in the States, methods of espionage and motivational factors behind them include (Bernhardt, 2003, p. 90):

• Trespassing;
• Covert surveillance;
• Electronic eavesdropping and bugging;
• Trash collection;
• Burglaries;
• Blackmail and bribery;
• Stealing of documents;
• Insider threat recruitment of a staff member or infiltration of an agent.

What do you understand about counterintelligence and how has your organisation protect its internal information from other competitors?

Describe strategies or action plans to counterintelligence at your organisation or any company you have selected.