THE SECURITY CHALLENGES FOR MANUFACTURING:

DIGITAL IP & OUTSOURCING

BACKGROUND:
The need to protect intellectual property isn’t new — but offshore outsourcing and the evolution of IP into a digital format pose new challenges that must be addressed. No matter how thorough the outsourcing contract, it cannot prevent data theft or provide peace of mind to intellectual property owners, shareholders or service providers.

Recent major breaches in India, the largest offshore outsourcing venue, clearly demonstrate the severity of the situation. In one example, call center employees at a former outsourcing company conspired to steal $350,000 from U.S. consumers’ bank accounts.

“This was not a lapse of judgment or an issue of poor customer service: The incident was an organized and systematic plot to steal customers’ money,” said John McCarthy, Forrester Analyst. “Forrester believes that this breach, coupled with recent onshore disclosures of sensitive customer data, will have far-reaching negative connotations for the offshore BPO (business process outsourcing) space.”