Espionage

French spy captured during the Franco-Prussian war.

The practice and set of techniques associated with covertly obtaining data, confidential information or any kind of secret is called espionage. The common techniques of espionage have historically been infiltration and penetration, in both the use of bribery and blackmail is possible.

Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial enterprise. However, the term tends to be associated with state espionage on actual or potential enemies for military purposes. Espionage involving corporations is known as industrial espionage.

One of the most effective ways to gather data and information about a target organization is to infiltrate their ranks. This is the job of the spy (spy agent). The spies can then return information such as the size and strength of the enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the organization and influence them to provide more information or defect. In times of crisis, spies steal technology and sabotage the enemy in various ways. Counterintelligence is the practice of thwarting enemy espionage and intelligence gathering. Almost all nations have strict espionage laws, and the penalty for being caught is usually severe. However, the profits made through espionage are often so great that most governments and many large corporations make use of it.

Methods and terminology

Although the media may speak of "spy satellites" and similar terms, espionage is not synonymous with the intelligence gathering disciplines, but rather a specific form of human intelligence (also known by the acronym HUMINT)..

In this scope, the following methods are used:

• La infiltration is the technique used to introduce own units in the rows of the opposite or white, to provide information of immediate or potential interest on the activities, capabilities, plans, projects, etc. of the contrary. It could also be said that it is the action that consists of the use of a person, known as a mole, whose basic task is to gain the trust of those who possess the information to have access to it.
• La penetration is the technique of achieving the conscious or innocent collaboration of a member of the organization or opposing group in order to provide confidential data and information from the group to which it belongs. Generally, this activity is carried out in a covert manner and employs recruits who have been persuaded to work secretly against their own organization for different motivations: ideological, economic, moral, religious or personal. The penetration precedes a study or selection of people with access to what they want to know, their motivations and vulnerabilities. Subsequently, a casual approach is made through third parties by an intelligence agent or recruiter who initiates a process called “source development”, aimed at cultivating the trust of the future informant and preparing it for the proposal for future collaboration.

Of both methods, intelligence agencies and different espionage services prefer penetration, since it is more secure and requires less logistical effort than infiltration.^{[citation needed]}

Concern about industrial and personal espionage has led to the design of Tempest Rooms and tempest protection for companies and computers, due to the theft of data from famous people and companies. For example, this protection is present in the computers of public medicine or social security consultations in Spain.

Instruments for handling human sources

• Bribery is the purchase of information with money or other means. This is a method used in penetration technique.
• In case coercion is used to obtain it, this technique is called blackmail. Personal information about blackmail is usually used to force their collaboration.

In any case, these techniques were based on the use of informants who, as such persons, are likely to be used and whose data is collected by intelligence agents who send reports to a "central analysis » whose mission is to separate the concrete facts from the assumptions or subjective contributions of the informant, compare the data received (exact, inaccurate, complete or incomplete) with the known and verified facts in order to give a classification on the accuracy of the information. information received and on the veracity of the source. "In the past of espionage, it is worth noting the Soviet advance. International espionage taught by the Soviet Union was based on various human-sourced methods such as:

• Rezidents: intruders that produced some regulatory work such as builders, plumbers; but that their real objective was to be the connection between the embassy and the incoming delegations. These were home to the illegals who came by and their goal was to illegally enter the enemy axes of the Soviet orb.

• Illegal: people with studies in areas of engineering and science responsible for infiltrating the enemy countries to collect scientific and political information from the country in which they lived. These were covered by the Rezidents who lived legally.

• Buzones: form in which the Rezidents were transmitted information. These could be envelopes left in common area park dumps. Many of these had magnetic implants adhered to; with the aim of being adhered to the edges of the garbage dumps and unnoticed by people of common origin.

• Messengers: Inhabitants of the country of origin who worked for the Soviet Union; they collaborated in time of peace to send money, documents, operations equipment etc.

Connection between Rezident and spy in general: the advance created by the Soviet Union is worth noting although it is off topic. The Ultra Short Wave (UHF) radio facility is used for communication between Agents and Rezidents or between Rezidents themselves. This is based on sending a short voice message. In order to meet or send your position to the partner. This is undetectable because it is only used over short distances and its content is too low to be detected.

Signals intelligence basics

With the development of new technologies, techniques have appeared that allow obtaining objective information such as photographs, conversations, etc. without human intervention. Thus, there is today a flourishing industry dedicated to facilitating sophisticated technological means, from spy satellites to micro-cameras, both for espionage and for the protection of information. Laptops, computers and cell phones are also currently spy technological means that are responsible for recording, audio, video, receiving data, ideology and thought through the Internet and constituting a means of tracking.

Commercial espionage applications

Industrial espionage is the illegal obtaining of information related to the research, development and manufacture of prototypes, through which companies intend to get ahead of their competitors in placing a new product on the market. The growing reduction in the time elapsed between the innovative idea and the product being placed on the market, as well as the increasing obsolescence of the products of the new technologies, make these industrial sectors the broth ideal crop for this type of illegal activities.

Similarly, with the appearance of the new means of transmitting information, of which the Internet is one of the most popular exponents, techniques for codifying information, not only technical but also private, are on the rise, making it difficult to decryption of a message intercepted by a third party.

Outstanding spies in history

• Joseph Fouche
• Mata Hari
• Joan Pujol
• Leopold Trepper
• Oleg Penkovski
• Tamara Bunke
• Policarpa Salavarrieta
• Hercules Mulligan
• Eli Cohen
• Ashraf Marwan
• Richard Sorge