Guarding the Breakthrough: Physical Security, Insider Risk & Corporate Espionage for Deep Tech Founders

You’re building valuable technology. But would you know if someone was trying to access, copy, or steal it? Join us for a practical founder-focused session on physical security, insider risk, and corporate espionage for companies working in defence, quantum, advanced manufacturing, and other high-risk sectors. This session will break down the common ways startups are physically scoped out or compromised, how sensitive information can be exposed, and what founders can do now to better protect their prototypes, technical drawings, lab spaces, trade secrets, and IP. Designed for early-stage and scaling companies, this session will cover visitor management, access control, facility security basics, and the risks that can arise when hosting investors, customers, vendors, partners, or other external stakeholders. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of what a reasonable security baseline looks like for a deep tech or defence company, and how physical security connects to IP protection and trade secret preservation. This session is ideal for founders, CEOs, CTOs, COOs, facilities managers, and anyone responsible for protecting sensitive technology, products, or company information. Meet the Experts Rob Philpotts – Partner at BDO Rob works with clients to address complex cyber risk with practical strategies leading to durable resilience. His background includes service as a Canadian Army Signals Officer in intelligence fusion centres in Afghanistan, Canada, and the US, where he established interoperability across people, processes, and technology in multinational environments, operating alongside NORAD, NATO, the U.S. National Security Agency, and U.S. Cyber Command. In consulting since 2016, Rob applies that experience from his experience in high stakes intelligence and cybersecurity operations to shapes how he advises clients today: translating ambitious cyber program objectives into clear decisions and actions that leadership can stand behind. At BDO, Rob is a Partner advising clients across the full scope of enterprise cyber programs in sensitive, highly critical, and regulated industries. Mohammed Khan – Manager – Application & Offensive Security – BDO Canada Mohammed Khan is a Manager within the Application & Offensive Security team at BDO Canada LLP with more than nine years of experience. Throughout his career, Mohammed has been helping organizations understand how sophisticated threat actors exploit weaknesses across both the physical and digital enterprise. His work spans red teaming, social engineering, physical security assessments, wireless security testing, and application security, giving him a practical, real-world perspective on how people, processes, facilities, and technology intersect in modern attack paths. Mohammed has led and supported engagements for financial institutions, pension funds, public sector organizations, and critical infrastructure clients, with particular emphasis on physical intrusion risk, social engineering, and the protection of sensitive information and intellectual property. Mohammed takes pride in translating complex technical findings into clear business implications, helping executive teams better understand where their most critical assets are exposed, how adversaries think, and what practical steps leaders can take to strengthen resilience, protect high-value information, and reduce enterprise risk.