Explain that many organizations create or support the development of intellectual property (IP) as part of their business operations. Intellectual property is defined as “the ownership of ideas and control over the tangible or virtual representation of those ideas.”

Recall that intellectual property for an organization includes trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Once intellectual property has been defined and properly identified, breaches to IP constitute a threat to the security of this information. Most common IP breaches involve the unlawful use or duplication of software-based intellectual property, known as software piracy.