A special guest post by Global Security Consultant and Political Risk Expert, Paul Crespo. This is the sixth post in the series. With larger and costlier data breaches being reported every day, cyber security is quickly moving from being seen by C-level executives as a purely technical security issue, to a top business risk for global corporations. Cybercrime and … [Read more...]
How Secure Are U.S. Businesses in Mexico?
A special guest post by Global Security Consultant and Political Risk Expert, Paul Crespo. This is the fifth post in the series. Mexico is a top Latin American location for American business operations. A vast market with close proximity, Mexico represents the United States’s second largest export market and its third largest source of imports. Recently however, the battle … [Read more...]
Codes, Locks and Keys: 35 Industrial Espionage Countermeasures that Will Save Your International Business.
Last week Apple released the Apple iPhone 5s. The most innovative feature of the new phone was the device's fingerprint scanner, which was widely heralded as being the world's first "hack proof" access point. It took only a few days, however, for a German hacking group to bypass the phone's latest security feature and gain access to the device. The incident is the latest … [Read more...]
Spies, Lies and Secrets: 37 Industrial Espionage Tactics that Threaten to Kill Your International Business.
Earlier this week I wrote about industrial espionage and how it is the fastest and least expensive way for our foreign competitors to bridge the innovation gap with the U.S. Using cutting-edge technology and age-old techniques of deceit and manipulation, corporate spies are the greatest post-cold war threat to international business. Today’s international conflicts are … [Read more...]
Brazil’s Mega Events: Risks for International Businesses during the World Cup and Olympics.
A special guest post by Global Security Consultant and Political Risk Expert, Paul Crespo. This is the fourth post in the series. For ten years Brazil has been the darling of the emerging market countries: the "B" in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China). With annual growth rates of 5 percent, its stock markets often doubled year to year. Brazil is hot. It will be … [Read more...]
U.S. Companies More Likely Than Russians to Engage in Industrial Espionage? LOL
Spying continues to dominate the news. Just today Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cancelled a trip to meet with President Obama over revelations that the U.S. actively spied on Brazil. Up until recently, the prevailing view was that companies located in China and Russia had the most active industrial espionage programs. That’s all changed after the Snowden … [Read more...]
Surviving a Kidnapping: How Your International Business Should Respond.
A special guest post by Global Security Consultant and Political Risk Expert, Paul Crespo. This is the third post in the series. You are an executive on a business trip in a foreign country being driven to a meeting when suddenly your car is slammed by a large truck and armed men with AK-47s yank you from your car, blindfold you and throw you into a van. You have just … [Read more...]
5 Tips for In-house Counsel When Acquiring a U.S. Multinational Company.
Acquiring a purely domestic U.S. company is relatively straightforward. Things get complicated when the target is a U.S. multinational company. One of the deals we’re working on in my office concerns just that. I was speaking to in-house counsel about the transaction and thought it would make for a great post someday. Then I came across an … [Read more...]
Are Worldwide Freezing Orders Really Enforceable Worldwide?
I recently did an interview with Russia’s top news agency, RIA Novosti on Worldwide Freezing Orders (WFO). The interview was conducted by RIA correspondent Carl Shecker. The interview was for the article In Global Tussle, Russia and Émigré US Socialite Battle for Fortune. As Carl puts it, the story centers on “a byzantine Russian corruption scandal intertwined with the opaque … [Read more...]
11 Ways to Avoid Getting Kidnapped While on Business Overseas.
A special guest post by Global Security Consultant and Political Risk Expert, Paul Crespo. Getting kidnapped while traveling internationally is a real and present danger. Kidnap for ransom, versus kidnapping for political goals, is a fast-growing worldwide industry. The majority of these kidnappings are purely for financial gain and are seen simply as business … [Read more...]