Top 10 overseas security trends for the U.S. private sector in 2007

The usual suspects: Theft of trade secrets, cyber attacks, insider threats, home-grown political radicalism, terrorism, and political conflict were among the top security challenges of 2007 confronting U.S. businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and academic institutions operating overseas, according to a year-end analysis of trends reported during the past year by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC). “These growing threats are among the many consequences — some good, and some bad — of increased globalization,” said Todd Brown, a special agent with the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and Executive Director of OSAC. “As an increasing number of U.S. businesses, academic institutions, and nonprofits expand the scope of their international operations, they must learn to safeguard their facilities and personnel by incorporating security and risk management into their core business practices,” he said. Brown added, “Those U.S. entities that take proactive security postures, manage their risks, and develop an internal culture of resiliency often are better able to survive and even thrive in riskier environments or in the aftermath of disasters.”

In Asia in particular, the threat of fraud and theft of business and trade secrets against the U.S. private sector “has increased exponentially in recent years,” according to the OSAC analysis. India and China, two of Asia’s largest players on the international business stage, are countries where the U.S. private sector faces “the greatest risk of theft of commercial secrets and insider threats,” OSAC said. OSAC advises that U.S. companies and other entities should take precautions against the insider threat, to safeguard communications systems, and for the safekeeping of sensitive data.

Citing disrupted terrorist plots in Denmark and Germany, an attack at the Glasgow Airport in Scotland, and the discovery of explosives in two vehicles in London, OSAC analysts said Europe experienced a steady increase in “home-grown” political radicalism. OSAC noted that most suspects in those cases were citizens of the countries in which they were plotting and came from diverse backgrounds and living conditions. Another significant security event in Europe with potential ramifications for the U.S. private sector was the massive cyber attack in late April that shut down Internet sites and computer networks of banks, newspapers, broadcast companies, and government agencies throughout Estonia. The digital siege lasted for about a month, involved a variety of attacks, and included cyber assaults from computers around the world that had previously been infected with a virus and placed under