[ISN] Canada: Loose Lips Sink Chips

From: mea culpa (jerichoat_private)
Date: Tue Jun 02 1998 - 21:10:37 PDT

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    Forwarded From: Nicholas Charles Brawn <ncb05at_private>
    
    02Jun98 CANADA: REPORT ON COMPUTERS - LOOSE LIPS SINK CHIPS.
    Special to The Globe and Mail
    OTTAWA
    
    There's a story making the rounds at an Ottawa company about a man who
    arrived regularly at the company headquarters, strolled past the reception
    desk clutching what looked like a waybill and then disappeared into the
    bowels of the building.
    
    It was only after his visits had gone on unchallenged for some months - and
    after some laptop computers, toner and other items had started disappearing
    - that someone finally challenged him. He was last seen running to an
    idling car.
    
    Richard Bernes, a former FBI agent who now serves as executive director of
    the California-based Technology Theft Prevention Foundation, says the thief
    wouldn't have made it past the front door if the company's employees had
    followed the first commandment of industrial crime prevention: security is
    the responsibility of every employee, and all suspicious activities or
    unknown persons should be reported to a supervisor.
    
    He says this is particularly true in the high-tech field, where new
    companies are being created regularly and may be too small to have their
    own security departments. "Security will be the last thing on their mind,
    and then they grow too fast and find out why they need a security
    department after something happens."
    
    The foundation has developed a series of tips designed to protect both
    property and personnel.
    
    Loose lips sink chips: Don't talk about shipments of equipment with anyone
    outside the company or on CB radios in trucks.
    
    Guard your identification badge, and never wear it outside work. If you
    don't know the person you are talking to, keep mum about your company's
    affairs and procedures.
    
    Consider company secrets the same as equipment, and guard them. "It's the
    lifeblood of the company," says Mr. Bernes. "Do not discuss company
    operations in public."
    
    Don't surprise a thief: If something looks wrong, it probably is. Report
    it.  If threatened, do not resist. Be observant, and become a good
    witness. 
     
    Toronto Globe and Mail
    
    -o-
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