An employee of the aerospace company Exotrail was suspended and placed in police custody. He allegedly stole particularly sensitive data related to satellite design.
The DGSI was taken by this investigation, on suspicions of industrial espionage (illustrative image). © Exotrail
The case is highly sensitive. According to the information of le JDD, an employee specializing in welding techniques, working for the French company « Exotrail », was arrested on Monday, December 8 and placed in police custody after a co-investigation by the Directorate-General for Internal Security (DGSI).
As an executive at Exotrail, a company specializing in orbital satellite mobility, Raphaël M. had recently been recruited for his welding skills. According to our information, he was involved in strategic patents to keep a satellite in its correct position in orbit. But Exotrail’s internal services quickly raid suspicions about the employee’s behavior.
The latter would have repeatedly stolen confidential information from the company’s servers in order to send it to his personal email address. An action « absolutely contrary to the company’s charter and subject to immediate dismissal, » explains a source close to the file. Unmasked by Exotrail’s human resources, Raphaël M. was forced to explain himself. He would then have tried to justify himself under the pretext of wanting to enjoy the data in order to exploit it with software present on his personal computer.
According to the information, the company immediately asked the employee to « delete all the data present on his personal computer equipment« ; to which Raphaël M. objected that he « owned the intellectual property » on said data. On December 3, Exotrail filed a complaint with the Massy-Palaiseau police station. The next day, the DGSI was involved in the investigation and used « specialized equipment » to analyze the computer of the defendant.
Dismissed, Raphaël M. was arrested on Monday and placed in police custody to be heard. His Parisian home was searched and all his computer equipment was seized to be analyzed by the investigation services. Raphaël M. would have sent himself at least 20 emails containing particularly sensitive data, « involving patents of technological sovereignty as well as a commercial advantage consubstantial to Exotrail’s leading position, » slips a well-informed source. A judicial file is being opened.