Most departing employees steal company data
Almost six in ten people who left a job in the United States last year took confidential data with them according to a survey. And every worker questioned had had access to some form of secretive business information.
The survey by data protection firm Ponemon covered 945 people who either lost their jobs or quit last year. Of those 79 percent took some form of data without permission, while 59 percent took data they considered confidential. This mainly included employee records and client details such as contact lists.
Surprisingly the most common method of stealing data (53 percent) was the most visible: burning a CD or DVD. Forty two per cent used a USB drive while just 38 percent e-mailed documents to a personal account.
While you’d expect such behavior to be driven by grudges, only 61 per cent of those who stole data said they had an ‘unfavorable’ view of their former employers.
Companies appear to be particularly lacking in protection against such theft. Only 15 percent of former workers said the firm concerned had any procedure to check departing employees had not taken any data, while almost one in four workers were able to access a company network at some point after their official departure. That’s the type of sloppy behavior which put mortgage giant Fannie Mae at risk of a complete shutdown.
There is one note of caution to sound about these figures: the survey was Web-based meaning it’s likely the participants are more likely to have sought out the survey to fess up. This means the figures for offending may be higher than you’d get from a truly random survey of ex-employees.
Whatever the true figures, the likelihood of increased layoffs this year means the risks of data breaches through departing employees will continue to grow stronger.
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February 24th, 2009
I’m sure these figures are just scratching the surface. It is a real nightmare for employers.
February 25th, 2009
@John,
You may wish to look up the definition of “secretive”.