When employees become an information security threat

All good businesses will be careful to ensure their information security is top notch, not in the least to make sure that they follow their responsibilities under the data protection act.

But sometimes it is employees that can cause a threat to this.

A survey commissioned by LogRhythm found that one in ten employees have stolen data from their business after they handed in their notice.

Client confidentiality goes out of the window at this point, as the research revealed that millions of employees raided their company databases for contact details.

Others took product ideas so that they can take these to their new job.

More than that, one in six of them even went in extra early so that they could get as much information as they could.

A spokesperson for LogRhythm said: “Sometimes, trust isn’t enough and all employers should have systems in place to stop ex, or soon-to-be ex, members of staff from getting hold of information they shouldn’t have.”

Nevertheless, employers tend to remain confident in their employees.

Research from CSO found 44 per cent of 1,000 employers polled in the UK trusted their employees not to steal company data. While 37 per cent recognised that their workers might try something like this but said they would hope not.

CSO felt that this was misguided after Symantec and Ponemon conducted a survey earlier this year that found around half of the 3,500 employees they surveyed worldwide had emailed documents from their business to their personal accounts.

Robert Hamilton of Symantec told CSO that this is a problem because many then left this information on their computers.

He felt that the best way to get around this is to make sure employees are properly educated on data ownership. This is because, he suggested, these employees often feel they have a stake in this information if they are not told otherwise.

What strategies should businesses put in place to keep their data safe?

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