Laid off employees take sensitive documents
June 8, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Solutions
The economy has forced many businesses to worry about this document security threat:
Theft of data by laid off employees.
Almost 60% of employees who’ve recently left a job (voluntarily or not) said they stole confidential data that would help them in a new position, according to a recent Symantec survey.
The most common items employees took were e-mail lists and customer contact databases. The most preferred methods of getting the data:
- downloading old e-mails (64%)
- printing hard copies (62%)
- saving info to CDs or DVDs (53%)
- using USB flash drives (42%), and
- sending e-mail attachments to personal accounts (38%).
Ex-employees also have various ways of justifying their actions — 54% said they did it because other laid off employees have, half simply said “no one checked” what they took with them, and 11% claimed their supervisor said it was allowed.
The departing employees may have a lot of excuses, but probably the biggest reason they were able to take documents is that companies aren’t adequately trying to stop them. For example, 89% of respondents said their ex-employers didn’t ask to scan USB thumb drives and other portable storage devices.
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August 19th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
The world is experiencing crisis nowadays and its getting wort day by day. If you’re laid off from your job there’s no doubt that you will justify the action with all means.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:09 am
The set of info that some employees maintain and keep updated is called a “fire kit”. It’s what they include in it and do with it that is the real issue. Everyone likes a “rolodex”, but no one should be making copies of sales databases, IP, or other things. I don’t really see a way to prevent this kind of problem in a normal work environment without ruining productivity. Employers may just have to live with this one.