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FFI-RAPPORT 16/00707
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Cause
Type of risk
(Hazard/Threat)
Threat: Theft of trade secrets on piqlFilm committed by insider on
behalf of someone standing to gain financially from the information
obtained.
Intentional
(Yes/No/Both)
Yes.
Profile of actor (if
intentional)
The rival oil company X is one of the biggest in the world. It has shown
in the past that it is without scruples and willing to bend the rules to
reach its objectives. Moreover, as it is state-owned, it has huge resources
at its disposal.
Description of cause
Due to the scarcity of oil and accompanying high prices, the rival oil
company X is motivated to go to extreme measures to get a bigger
market share. In acquiring the oil well data in question, where the new
method of oil well analysis is used, the rival company X gains new
insight into which oil wells on the depleted market have the potential for
further exploration, and the financial reward could be considerable in
the current market. A second, less vital, aspect is how the rival oil
company X also gets access to information on how oil company Y
conducts oil well analyses generally, and is able to compare the
efficiency of their respective methods to perhaps make a change in the
future. Oil company X resorts to bribing a Piql operator. Said operator
suffers from gambling addiction and is in grave financial debt, and so is
open to bribes.
Competence and
resources (if
intentional)
As one of the major state-owned oil companies of the world, the rival oil
company X has the financial resources available to bribe the insider
with large sums of money. It also has a lack of scruples to engage in
such acts of corruption.
User/value
User class
Business sensitive.
User type
Oil and gas sector. Major oil company Y.
Value
Trade secrets, specifically oil well analyses of ―dry‖ wells which details
how new technology can be applied to old seismic data to show if an oil
well is profitable after all. The information is potentially worth millions
of USD. Highly company confidential. Even if the information is
eventually recovered or the company have copies, the loss of the
company’s market position due to loss of confidentiality is very
damaging.