Honeytrap in Corporates: How To Stay Vigilant To Save Your Organization?
We have always heard about booming honeytrap cases in defence forces as the rival country try to infiltrate through other means like honey trapping to gather secret and confidential information. Indian defence forces have recently banned using a lot of Chinese apps in order to prevent Indian soldiers from falling prey to fictitious characters. So, awareness and action are on in the defence forces of India. How about the corporates? Do they really care? because it will not just be about its own security but also about national security.
In a simple definition, Honey trap is the use of an attractive person to try to get information from someone. Spies across the world have used sex to entice people and get access to valuable information. Today, the nature of honey trapping has changed. With all aspects of our life turning virtual, the art of honey trapping has also turned digital. Modern warfare is becoming more and more faceless.
We have read news of such cases in Gurugram region of India where members of the racket allegedly contacted their targets through the dating app and after befriending them, arranged dates on isolated stretches in Gurugram. Around 50 executives of top multinational companies in Delhi-NCR have been duped and robbed by them. They create fake profiles of beautiful women and befriend their targets in hopes that the target would be complacent about giving out information. Facebook admitted that up to 270 million of its accounts are fake. These are mostly bots or honey traps.
In your organization, keep an eye on employees who handle the most sensitive data. Employees having socially isolated life as well office flirts are for one reason or another could be vulnerable and fall for such honey traps. A corporate executive unknowingly begins an affair with a corporate spy and reveals secrets about the new product that his firm is planning to launch or the woman whom he slept with provides him with an envelope containing photographs of the two of them engaged in compromising positions along with a note that she will send them to his wife or post them on Facebook unless he provides sensitive information or NPD in progress to her. Now, in these circumstances, you wouldn’t think of the company. Do you?
There should be a corporate policy to train employees in understanding what honey traps are and how to guard against them.
The basic thing any employee should do:
– One should remain alert and conscious at all times even beyond office hours
– Do not accept any friend request in any social media without any thorough investigation of the profile.
– Be aware of your weakness and avoid falling into a trap when someone using your weaknesses for a reason which may sound too good to be true.
Your competitors will be relentless in this hyper-competitive world. Are you equipped to deal with this problem? Give it a serious thought!