reported from: The Wall Street Journal, by Evan Perez
 WASHINGTON—The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s spy hunters usually shy away from drawing attention. But they’re hoping the public takes notice of a new campaign trying to stop foreign spies from stealing trade secrets from U.S. companies.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s spy hunters usually shy away from drawing attention. But they hope the public takes notice of a new campaign to stop foreign spies from stealing U.S. trade secrets. Evan Perez has details on The News Hub. Photo: FBI.

The FBI, which is responsible for investigating breaches by foreign intelligence agencies, Friday will unveil billboards in nine cities around the country with the message: Protect America’s Trade Secrets. The billboards direct the public to a section of the FBI website where the bureau provides warning signs to look for in the cubicle next to you.
Behind the campaign is the government’s view that state-sponsored espionage targeting companies is growing so fast it is a national security concern. Lost trade secrets lead to lost jobs and in a time of economic struggle poses a national threat, says Frank Figliuzzi, the FBI’s assistant director for counterintelligence.
“It’s almost counterintuitive in the spy game to talk openly about your business,” Mr. Figliuzzi said in an interview. “We need to make the general public aware of the threat from economic espionage. Clearly it is time to do something new and outside the box.”
The FBI estimates that companies have suffered more than $13 billion in economic losses in cases opened in fiscal 2012, which began in October. The economic-loss figures include the estimated future market value of stolen trade secrets.
To illustrate the threat, Mr. Figliuzzi and others in the FBI cite the case of Cleveland-based chemical maker Lubrizol Corp., which suffered a trade secret loss when an employee admitted in 2008 to selling product specifications and other secrets to South Korean competitor SK Chemicals. Lubrizol, now owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,BRKB -1.20% later purchased the SK Chemicals unit that benefited from the trade secrets.
The FBI says foreign intelligence agencies have increasingly shifted their attention from defense contractors, which tend to have stringent security, to companies that are often less sophisticated about protecting their secrets. Makers of software and other products are being targeted now, the FBI says.
Of special concern, Mr. Figliuzzi says are products and research that aren’t yet ready for the market, but could someday become components in new technology.
Between 2001 and 2008 at Lubrizol, an employee used a thumb drive to download specifications for several of its products, including a thermoplastic polyurethane used in shoes and auto parts. The employee met 17 times with employees of top Lubrizol competitor SK Chemicals, and they handed over envelopes stuffed with $10,000 each time, prosecutors said in court documents.
In a 2008 letter to the judge overseeing the sentencing of the Lubrizol employee, the company said his “criminal conduct harmed Lubrizol” and that the financial losses “are far in excess” of what the employee could ever repay. Instead, the company asked that the employee pay restitution for the nearly $800,000 in salary and benefits it paid him while he was handing over its secrets to a competitor.
A Lubrizol spokeswoman declined to comment beyond a statement issued at the time of the employee’s arrest, when it said it “takes numerous protective measures to maintain the secrecy of company confidential information.” Attempts to reach SK Chemicals headquarters were unsuccessful. In 2008, an attorney for SK Chemicals told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that the company cooperated with the U.S. investigation.
SK Chemicals didn’t face any charges in the case.
The Lubrizol employee, Kyung Kim, pleaded guilty to theft of trade secrets and was sentenced to 19 months in prison. The judge also ordered that Mr. Kim pay nearly $189,000 in restitution to Lubrizol.
In pleading for a light sentence, Mr. Kim through his attorney said he was “driven to commit the charged offenses not merely out of greed but out of a deep feeling of failure; failure at not reaching a more distinguished level within his company.”

Video available at:  FBI targets corporate espionage

see the original article at:
https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304543904577396520137905092.html 
by Evan Perez

Write to Evan Perez at evan.perez@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared May 11, 2012, on page B4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: FBI’s New Campaign Targets Corporate Espionage.