<P> One of the means of perpetrators conducting industrial espionage is by exploiting vulnerabilities in computer software . Malware and spyware as "a tool for industrial espionage", in "transmitting digital copies of trade secrets, customer plans, future plans and contacts". Newer forms of malware include devices which surreptitiously switch on mobile phones camera and recording devices . In attempts to tackle such attacks on their intellectual property, companies are increasingly keeping important information off network, leaving an "air gap", with some companies building "Faraday cages" to shield from electromagnetic or cellphone transmissions . </P> <P> The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack uses compromised computer systems to orchestrate a flood of requests on the target system, causing it to shut down and deny service to other users . It could potentially be used for economic or industrial espionage with the purpose of sabotage . This method was allegedly utilized by Russian secret services, over a period of two weeks on a cyberattack on Estonia in May 2007, in response to the removal of a Soviet era war memorial . </P> <P> Economic and industrial espionage has a long history . The work of Father Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles in Jingdezhen, China to reveal to Europe the manufacturing methods of Chinese porcelain in 1712 is sometimes considered an early case of industrial espionage . </P> <P> Historical accounts have been written of industrial espionage between Britain and France . Attributed to Britain's emergence as an "industrial creditor", the second decade of the 18th century saw the emergence of a large - scale state - sponsored effort to surreptitiously take British industrial technology to France . Witnesses confirmed both the inveigling of tradespersons abroad and the placing of apprentices in England . Protests by those such as iron workers in Sheffield and steel workers in Newcastle, about skilled industrial workers being enticed abroad, led to the first English legislation aimed at preventing this method of economic and industrial espionage . </P>

Who was considered to be the first industrial spy