It's three in the morning. Nobody in town is awake except for some hungry bats, a few singing crickets, and a coffee-guzzling security guard inside a factory that is more fortified and secure than Fort Knox. Then suddenly, an intruder appears on the guard's screen. The trespasser leaps towards the floor of the airtight vault, from overhead air ducts. On instinct, the guard reaches over the control panel, and presses the button. As a blaring sound resonates throughout the entire compound, an army of specially-trained armed guards quickly secure the compound. They surround the intruder, cuff him, and then lead him away.

What had the intruder tried to steal? Top-secret military documents? The blueprints of state-of-the-art data storage technology? The answer is none of the above. What the intruder is after is the secret recipe for Colonel Cluckman's Famous Fried Chicken! Thanks to wireless spy cameras, however, the colonel's recipe remains a trade secret.

A trade secret is any instrument, model, blueprint, or production process that gives a business an edge over the competition. Only a company's owner and a chosen few are aware of them. Regardless of the form of a trade secret, however, companies must actively prevent them from being leaked. Some do this with the help of tools such as wireless spy cameras.

What qualifies as a trade secret? Several factors should be considered. Trade secrets must involve data of significance to a company, so a CEO's favorite color or food does not count. Also, revealing trade secrets to the public is only problematic in cases involving some sort of violation. Is buying a competitor's product and then testing it in a lab to uncover certain trade secrets legal? Yes. Lastly, a formal contract between an employer and an employee is not always needed to protect a trade secret.

In a recent case of illegal trade secret sharing, two former workers of a major soda producer were sentenced to a federal prison and fined close to $50,000. Their crime? They were caught on tape stealing some of their company's classified documents and a new product sample. Later, they tried to sell those items to an undercover federal agent.

In the aforementioned case, the victim company of trade secret theft announced that its security system would be assessed. In particular, a wireless spy camera can help protect a company's trade secrets at its first line of defense: the factory. Today, thieves steal not only products from factories but trade secrets as well. Wireless spy cameras help prevent such a theft from occurring. At the same time, it assists in securing the safety of workers and allows monitoring from a remote site. Wireless spy cameras being wireless, they are very easy to install. When creating a system of wireless spy cameras to protect your trade secrets, you should think about the following considerations.

1. What type of security system do you currently have?

2. How large is your factory or factories?

3. Do you produce one or multiple types of products?

4. Is there a huge demand for the products that you produce?

5. Have you had trade secrets stolen in the past?

6. What is the greatest security threat to having trade secrets stolen?

After assessing your security needs, you must create a plan to protect your trade secrets with the use of surveillance equipment such as wireless spy cameras. In particular, cameras should monitor visitors, the production area, and storage places.

It is no secret that companies rightfully strive to protect their trade secrets. Wireless spy camera helps them achieve this mission.