Swiss universities seek to stem tech espionage after Iranian scandal

Swiss research institutes may tighten the screening of foreign academics as the current patchwork system of controls contends with growing threats of spying by China, Russia and others targeting commercial and military capabilities. Swiss universities plan to beef up their vetting of researchers and students to curb high-tech spying by hostile countries a year after an academic from Iran was arrested for allegedly supplying navigation systems for drones and missiles to the Islamic republic. Mohammad Abedini, who was detained in Italy on behalf of the US, worked for years at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). In what some viewed as a quid pro quo, he was returned to Iran days after the Middle Eastern country released an Italian journalist it had jailed following Abedini’s arrest. Now a review by the umbrella group for Swiss universities is proposing a national strategy to try to prevent critical knowledge from being stolen or used by military adversaries.