Could WikiLeaks Get Your Secrets?

Sixty years ago, stealing 750,000 documents would require a major break-in with a crew of grunts and at least one moving van.

In the digital age, to steal the equivalent of 750,000 original documents, carbon copies, cables, Thermofaxes and photographs, Pfc. Bradley Manning needed only a computer, Internet access and some time to download the material at the speed of light. And he did it from Iraq.

So how do you avoid wholesale looting of your secrets?

1. Hiring
As readers know, I scour the media daily for stories to add to my giant archive. Here are three recent ones:
• Executives at Renault Suspended in Secrecy Breach
PARIS — The French government said on Thursday that it would seek to bolster industrial secrecy rules after the automaker Renault suspended three executives, including a member of its management committee, who are suspected of compromising the electric car technology on which the company is betting its future.
—Matthew Saltmarsh and David Jolly, The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2011

• Rajat Gupta and Wall Street's Biggest Insider Trading Scandal Ever
Rajat Gupta was trusted by some of the world’s top companies. But the SEC says he shared insider secrets so a hedge fund could make millions improperly in the market.
—Allan Dodds Frank, The Daily Beast, Mar. 2, 2011

• Chiesi Pleads Guilty in Galleon Insider Case
In August 2008, Danielle Chiesi, an executive at a New York hedge fund, was swapping confidential information with an associate about a pending reorganization of Advanced Micro Devices, a publicly traded semiconductor company.

“I swear to you in front of God,” she said. “You put me in jail if you talk. … I’m dead if this leaks. I really am … and my career is over.”

Ms. Chiesi’s remarks, which were being recorded by the government, proved prescient.