Trade secrets are confidential business details that have economic value because they are not public, such as source code, formulas, design documents, customer data, and internal security methods. Unlike patents, trade secrets stay protected only if the company actively keeps them secret.
In cybersecurity, trade secrets matter because attackers often try to steal information that gives them a market, legal, or technical advantage. Common threats include phishing, insider theft, malware, cloud misconfiguration, and data exfiltration during ransomware incidents. Defenders protect trade secrets with access controls, encryption, segmentation, logging, and strict handling of disclosures. They also redact vulnerability reports and incident summaries so security teams can share what is needed without exposing code, architecture, or other sensitive know-how.