On the flip side, many software executives are unprepared for unethical CI conducted on them. They don’t know their rights or what to do when something suspicious occurs. They™re not taking the necessary proactive measures to protect their company’s trade secrets and other con˜dential and proprietary information. In this ebook, we hope to provide practical guidance on how to avoid becoming a perpetrator or victim of corporate espionage. We also want to address the danger these unethical practices pose for the software industry, where the risk of fraudulent behavior being elevated to the level of industry normalcy is growing. It is time to be clear and straightforward about what is right and what is wrong about competitive intelligence in the software industry. Here are the things you need to know and what you can do to keep your company on safe ground. One small step after another...until Most companies do not intentionally commit corporate espionage, at least not at first. They just t ake one small step away from the ethical shoreline, then another, which leads to another. At some point, glancing back, there’s the shocking realization of the dist ance between them and the shoreline. The rest of the business community, on shore looking out at them, is thinking, “How did they allow themselves to go so far.”

So, don’t take the first step.