Strider wants global IP-thieves to know this town ain’t big enough for the both of them

By: Wes Schlagenhauf | Published by the Hustle

Strider, a startup that offers a screening tool to help prevent foreign governments from planting intellectual property-stealing moles inside companies, has come out of its stealth mode, Axios reports. 

The company plans to root out the spooks by keeping a database of human interactions with governments. But will the new tool really help stabilize trust among domestic and international businesses, or will it further separate them?

Hungry, hungry hIPpos

If you don’t believe corporate spies are real, it’s probably because you’re a corporate spy. And the corporate spy life has been good because there have been few solutions to suss out individuals with malicious ties to foreign governments — until now. 

Many countries — *ahem* China — have been known to send double agents to apply for jobs at foreign companies and steal their IP for their own domestic firms to copy and sell. Sometimes they’ll even go as far as forming company partnerships — allegedly — before swiping their trade secrets (Remember Huawei? T-Mobile sure does). 

Strider’s twin co-founders Eric and Greg Levesque (if those are their real names) have quietly provided similar screening technology to US intelligence agencies and large firms — now they’re just announcing their business publicly.

And it feels pretty necessary…

Strider believes its new tool enables companies to recruit from nations like China or Russia while minimizing the risk and worry in the current global IP war.

“The reality is that we live in a day and age where companies operate globally,” Eric Levesque told Axios. “We assess the risk of espionage, to allow them to do it safely.”