Since the economic downturn of the Great Recession, employee theft has been on the rise. It is not just notepads and pencils anymore, but the theft of sensitive databases and proprietary information. Client lists are often stolen, and quite often by those employees who have been dismissed or have taken another job.
Such theft can put a big dent in your business. While background checks and professional reference checks are helpful in the aftermath, when hiring a new employment candidate, at this juncture they probably will do you little good.
According to a synopsis of an article in the Wall Street Journal…”Technology has made it easier for departing employees to steal company information. Rather than sneak out documents, they need only download company information to a mobile device or upload it to an online storage service. A recent survey by the Ponemon Institute and Symantec Corp. reveals that 50 percent of employees polled had taken confidential documents with them when they switched jobs. Security experts say employers can guard against information theft by understanding what data must be protected, where it is stored, and the level of access granted to every employee. Companies should avoid having sensitive information stored in different computer systems and among different departments or business units, and they should automatically revoke access when an employee leaves. They also can track sensitive information using data-loss prevention software and should ensure communication between information technology security managers and the human resources department to keep abreast of pending layoffs and other personnel issues.”
The article also suggests that legal or privacy experts share information pertaining to data theft, etc. with human resources human resources. The article cautions that laws differ in various countries.
