Foreign intelligence services have long gone beyond the military sphere. The theft of intellectual property, the infiltration of strategical sectors and the disruption of critical infrastructure hit the economical stableness of highly developed countries. According to an analysis by the European Centre for global Political Economy, ECIPE, the theft of know-how costs the European Union about €60 billion a year and threatens 289,000 jobs in manufacture and research. The mechanics is simple: the higher the value of data, the greater the interest of abroad services, which translates into financial losses, dismissals and political pressure.
