Economic espionage is the dirty underbelly of globalization. Nation-states—particularly China—steal intellectual property from U.S. companies at an extraordinary pace. And they don’t just use computer hacking to do so: insider spies plant hidden audio devices in light switches, or retrofit smoke detectors with audio and video feeds.

The idea that businesses need to fend off attacks from heavily equipped nation-states makes it “An unfair game … not a balanced fight,” said Michael Oberlaender, the principal security strategist Cisco Systems in the United States.

At this late stage, the US is playing catchup. To read more, click here.