2.0WHY BE CONCERNED?
The loss of intellectual property due to cyber attacks amounts to the greatest transfer of wealth in human history.1
General Keith Alexander
Commander, United States Cyber Command
2.1 A CLASSIC HACK
Do you know who Robert Fortune was?
If you are an American, chances are fairly good that you don’t, but you most likely recognize the product of his work.
Robert Fortune was the perpetrator of what author Sarah Rose calls, “the greatest single act of corporate espionage in history.”2
We submit that Robert Fortune was a nineteenth-century hacker, arguably one of the most notorious, whether he knew it or not.
Robert Fortune was a Scottish botanist and adventurer who is credited with the introduction of tea to India, whose subsequent mass production of tea produced great wealth for the British Empire. Truly, Fortune changed the fortunes of the British Empire.
According to Rose’s research and surviving documents authored by Fortune and his contemporaries, in 1843, Fortune journeyed to China under the employ of the Royal Horticultural Society. While on this trip, he discovered that green and black teas were derived from the same plant, which caused quite a stir in botanical circles. Upon his return from Far East Asia, he was recognized by many as an expert on teas.
At that time, the United Kingdom had enjoyed a love affair with tea that extended back over 200 years. China was the sole source of tea and costs were high. After all, despite the relatively cheap purchase ...
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