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September 28, 1999
Web posted at: 10:25 a.m. EDT (1425 GMT)

by Kathleen Ohlson

(IDG) -- Theft of proprietary information is costing Fortune 1000 companies billions of dollars a year, according to a study from the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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Overall, companies lost an estimated $45 billion from January 1997 through June 1998, the survey estimated. Numbers are based on 97 responding companies in industries including high-tech, services, manufacturing and financial/insurance.

Manufacturing companies reported the majority of losses, with $871 million total and an average of about $50 million per incident, according to the study.

ASIS and PricewaterhouseCoopers said high-technology organizations had the most thefts recorded -- 530 incidents -- followed by service organizations with 356.

Other findings in the study, "Trends in Proprietary Information Loss Survey," included the following:

• High-tech firms reported only $120 million in direct losses but had 67 incidents per company -- the most out of the companies surveyed. These companies averaged $15 million in losses per incident.

• Service companies reported 356 incidents but only lost approximately $20,000 per incident.

• Financial/insurance companies averaged $350,000 in losses per incident.

• Companies perceive on-site contractors and OEMs as the biggest threat to their proprietary information.