Before your technology changes hands,
verify who is on the other side.
Investment, acquisitions, joint ventures and overseas suppliers: HELIOS checks the counterparty's real owners and real operations with open sources and lawful on-site verification — from Korea to the factory floor in Southeast Asia.
More cases, more destinations,
smaller victims.
Korean police figures for 2025: more technology-leak cases than the year before, leaks reaching beyond China into Southeast Asia, and most victims small and mid-sized firms.
Cases referred to prosecutors by the Korean National Police Agency. The 2025 overseas destinations were China 18, Vietnam 4, Indonesia 3, the U.S. 3 and others; in 2024, China 20, the U.S. 3, and Vietnam, Japan, Germany and Iran one each.
Korean law looks at the deal,
not only the leak.
Korea's Industrial Technology Protection Act covers overseas acquisitions, joint ventures and those who broker a leak. National core technologies currently number 79 across 13 fields, from semiconductors and displays to shipbuilding.
Overseas M&A and JVs need approval or notice
A holder of national core technology needs the minister's approval, or must give advance notice, before an overseas acquisition, merger or joint venture. The application describes the foreign party's major shareholders, revenue, assets and business. Skipping it can bring suspension, prohibition or restoration orders and penalties of up to KRW 10 million a day.
Brokers and careless buyers are covered too
Since July 2025, introducing, brokering or inducing a leak is prohibited. Acquiring or using leaked technology while missing, through gross negligence, that it was leaked is prohibited as well. Knowingly leaking national core technology for use abroad carries at least three years in prison plus a fine of up to KRW 6.5 billion.
The company answers unless it took due care
When an employee or agent breaks the Act, the company is fined too, unless it shows it did not neglect due care and supervision. That is why HELIOS records when, how and on what evidence each counterparty was checked.
A plain-language summary of the Industrial Technology Protection Act as in force from 3 June 2026. Not legal advice: whether a deal needs approval or notice is for your counsel and the industry ministry to confirm.
Six doors technology walks out of.
Most of them start as ordinary business. That is why they are checked as business: owners, addresses, operations and documents.
Capital that comes for the technology
A friendly investor or acquirer whose real owner sits behind layers of holding companies. Who ultimately controls the money matters more than the name on the term sheet.
Partnerships that move know-how abroad
Joint ventures, licences and technical-assistance contracts can transfer process know-how legally — or become the route for transfers the contract never allowed.
Drawings that leave through the supply chain
Process sheets and drawings shared with an overseas supplier or OEM travel further than the first company that receives them.
Addresses with nothing behind them
A new overseas entity, a registered-agent address, a website made last month. Whether a facility exists and operates is something you can check before you sign.
A Korean face on foreign control
A Korean subsidiary or research unit that is in fact run by an overseas company. Registries and shareholdings show who really controls it.
Offers to your engineers from an unknown firm
When the same new company or agency keeps contacting your engineers, HELIOS checks the company (its owners, address and operations), not your employees. Since 2025, brokering a leak is itself an offence.
One chain of evidence, graded link by link.
Open sources tell you what a company says about itself. Ground Truth tells you whether it is true.
- 01OWNERSHIPbeneficial owners
Registries, filings and shareholder records in each country, followed up the chain to the people and states in control.
- 02SCREENINGsanctions · export controls
U.S., EU, UN and Korean sanctions and entity lists, export-control lists and the links behind them.
- 03GROUND TRUTHon site, lawfully
Vetted local partners confirm from public places and public records whether the site exists, operates and matches its paperwork.
- 04FORENSICSvision ai
Certificates, photos and corporate documents are screened for editing and generated imagery before they count as evidence.
- 05JUDGMENTgraded and sourced
A Korean and English report: what we found, how sure we are, what we could not confirm, and what would change the call.
Call before you sign, not after you find out.
Investment, M&A and joint ventures
- An overseas investor or buyer approaches a company with core technology
- Before a joint venture, licence or technical-assistance contract abroad
- When the counterparty's owners or funding are hard to see
Suppliers, OEMs and partners
- Before drawings or process sheets go to an overseas supplier
- When a new partner's factory, address or certificates need confirming
- When one unfamiliar company keeps approaching your engineers
The on-site part of your due diligence.
Advisers know the deal. HELIOS adds what a desk review cannot: whether the site exists, operates and matches its paperwork in Korea and Southeast Asia.
Subcontracted verification
We work inside your engagement and NDA, to the scope you set, and report to you.
Reports both sides can read
Findings, grades and gaps in Korean and English, so Korean management and overseas counsel read the same thing.
Provenance on every item
Every photo and record carries time, place and source, so a reviewer can follow the trail.
Lawful by design.
Company and transaction checks
- Public and commercially available sources, registries and filings
- Sanctions, entity and export-control lists
- Observation from public places and public records
- Forensic screening of documents and images
Anything aimed at private individuals
- Following, recording or location-tracking anyone
- Private-life, credit or medical enquiries
- Obtaining information unlawfully or under false pretences
- Exercising investigative powers — suspected crimes go to the authorities
How we collect and handle data is set out on the trust & compliance page.
Before you ask
Is this a private investigation?
Can you look into an employee we suspect?
Do you work with consulting firms and law firms?
Where can you verify on the ground?
Which counterparty would you check first?
Tell us the deal and the deadline. We'll tell you what we can verify, where, and how sure we can be.