An insider who stole intellectual property from Indian firm Acme Telepower and sold it to a rival, causing losses of $166 million, has prompted the company to leave the country and move to Australia. According to experts at InfoWatch, the move is hardly likely to prevent further loss of confidential information because the company makes no use of technical security measures.
A little over a week has passed since the Indian telecommunications company Acme Telepower Management detected a data breach and took one of their former employees to court. Now the company has decided to move their business to Australia removing $10 million from their Indian operations.
It appears India is witnessing a domino effect. Initially, companies were more than happy to invest in outsourcing companies and set up their subsidiaries in the country, but now constant data leaks and mercenary insiders are forcing businesses to turn down contracts in India. A perfect example is that of Acme Telepower Management, which announced financial losses of $166 million as a result of an intellectual property leak. Insiders at the company stole the latest research and sold it to a rival firm.
A spokesman from Acme Telepower Management said the company was disappointed in the Indian legal system. Patents and research are not protected, and companies doubt if the law is capable of protecting them. Of the 1,100 employees at the affected company it is known that only 70 are definitely going to Australia, while the fate of the others is as yet unclear.
“Other companies could well follow Acme Telepower’s lead. As a result the whole outsourcing industry in India will suffer. All the same, I don’t agree that a move to another country will solve the problem. If a company has intellectual property, it needs to be protected without just relying on the law. In other words, the activities of employees need to be monitored and controlled and then everything will fall into place,” says Denis Zenkin, marketing director at InfoWatch.
Source: ibnlive
